Mexican DREAMers - Life after return

July 22, 2014 11:55 AM

They grew up in America, were deported or returned to Mexico for other reasons and faced challenges and opportunities alike. A recently funded kickstarter for a book called "Los Otros Dreamers" tells the struggles and hopes of the other DREAMers. Nancy Landa, a deported honors graduate of California State University, who has lived in Tijuana and London since her deportation in 2009, is about to begin a research project collecting the experiences of voluntary and involuntary returns to Mexico after a long time in the U.S. To help in a country that is foreign to them the Mexican nonprofit Dream in Mexico supports young people who just arrived in Mexico. The German Der Spiegel interviewed three young deportees and how returning to Mexico after a lifetime in the U.S was both, a culture shock and an opportunity for a better life. [in German]
posted by travelwithcats (3 comments total)

Related, from This American Life, Phone Home:

Seth Freed Wessler reports on people going the opposite direction over the US/Mexico border. Each year hundreds of thousands of people are deported from the US to Mexico — tens of thousands more choose to leave on their own — and lots of them make the journey after years and years living in the states. Wessler explains how customer service call centers in Mexico are capitalizing on the fact that many of these people speak English with American accents. They're hiring such people, and using them to staff customer service lines for American companies. But, for those who've left the US, taking calls over and over from the place they used to call home, it can be a complicated experience. (11 minutes)

The people profiled in the story mostly grew up in the U.S. and were deported as young adults.
posted by Emanuel at 12:56 PM on July 22, 2014 [6 favorites]

One of the people in the Der Spiegel interview works in a call center, exactly because of her language skills, like in Emanuel's story.

Translation:

"Adriana Cervantes, 24: "I wouldn't get a desk job in the U.S."
[...] Then she was deported to Mexico, left in the border town of Nogales, beaten up and robbed. The illegal border crossing back, she did not dare: The Mexican cartels nowadays target migrants as well, and she would once again be illegal and undocumented back in the states. "Even with a social security number I would have never had the chance to work in an office with air conditioning in the U.S."

Although she has a college degree with good grades, the only job she could get was a part-time job at a gas station. In Mexico City, Cervantes was able to quickly find a job in a call center, thanks to her bilingualism. She will move jobs soon and start at the call center for a big bank, where she'll earn about $900 a month, plus benefits, bonuses, free medication. For her, an absolute dream job."
posted by travelwithcats at 1:39 PM on July 22, 2014 [1 favorite]

More audio: Four recent deportees talk about their experiences and struggles. [8:22 minutes]
posted by travelwithcats at 9:04 PM on July 22, 2014