Aidan - Written Blog Post 3

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/magazine/my-life-as-an-undocumented-immigrant.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Being an immigrant is hard, but being an illegal immigrant is harder. Such is the life of Jose-Antonio Vargas, an illegal immigrant to the USA at the age of 12. His mother entrusted him to a coyote, in hopes that he would have a better life. This coyote, posing as Jose’s uncle, took him to America from the Philippines. In America, he lived with his grandparents, not once suspecting that he was an illegal immigrant. When he was 16, he biked to the local D.M.V office to get his drivers license. He was asked to produce his green card as proof of US residency, and discovered that it was fake. Ever since then, Jose has lived in fear of discovery. At the age of 30, he has no legal driver’s license, and is still hoping for a way to legally stay in the US without deportation.

In The House of the Scorpion, Celia turned to a coyote to help her get from Aztlán to the USA. Her and twenty others packer their bags and willingly followed the coyote in hopes of a better life. According to Celia, this experience was quite frightening.

For example…

“’We panicked like a bunch of scared rabbits’” (Farmer 142)

Celia’s group was afraid of being discovered; if they were, they would be captured and turned into eejits. This fear is similar to Jose-Antonio’s everyday life. He has hidden his citizenship status for 18 years, out of fear of discovery.

Celia also expressed that following the coyote was a horrible decision, calling herself an idiot. Clearly, Celia regrets trying to illegally cross the border, and would have preferred to stay in dirt-poor Aztlán.

For example…

“’What an idiot I was! Those people don’t help you go anywhere. They lead you straight to the Farm Patrol.’”

Similarly, Jose-Antonio expressed anger towards his mother for sending him to America. When he was aware of his status, he initially felt mad at his mother for putting him into his current situation.