Draw of the U.S.: 'Vital' cash flow to Mexico is slowing

Longing to return

Published: Monday, Sept. 17, 2007 12:25 a.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
FRANCISCO MURGIA, Zacatecas, Mexico — As Efren Carrillo walks home on dirt roads, he passes adobe and brick buildings and crosses a footbridge over a river that's dry now, as it is most of the year.

The 14-year-old boy points out animals — a dog, a few horses, a pig — saying he likes this rural town because he's close to animals. He dreams of being the next "Crocodile Hunter," like he has seen on television.

Even so, Carrillo longs to return to Wendover, Utah, where he was born and lived until moving to this quiet Zacatecas town with his father a few years ago, after his mother died. There are more opportunities in the United States. Efren says the outlook here is bleak.

"It's hard to earn money here," he says. "There's more chances over there — there's more work, more places to learn — to be something."

Half of the population of the largely rural central Mexican state has left over several years, looking for opportunities in more prosperous Mexican states or another country, according to a Zacatecas development report for 2005-10.

The dusty rural towns such as Francisco Murgia are a stark contrast to the vibrant Zacatecas city, where tourists admire the colonial architecture and array of cathedrals.

Story continues below

Outside the city, highways are lined by fields of chilies and other crops. There are a few factories and roadside restaurants between towns. Farther off the highway, some smaller towns are reached only by dirt roads. Many people earn a subsistence by working on farms or ranches. Most of the working-age men interviewed by the Deseret Morning News say they've at some point worked in the United States.

In Francisco Murgia, Carrillo is among about two dozen students at a secondary school who answer "si," or "claro," when asked if they have relatives in the United States.

Carrillo's older sister, a U.S. citizen, remains in Wendover. She sends money back when she can and is saving up money to sponsor a green card for their father, Juan Carrillo, and brother Eric, who were both born in Mexico.

Juan Carrillo is anxious to get back to Wendover, where he says there are better opportunities to work, if you're legal. Eric Carrillo crossed the border earlier this year, but his lack of papers left him unable to find a decent job, his father says, so he returned to Mexico.

The father, meanwhile, makes about 600 pesos each week working on a cattle ranch. That's roughly $54 and only a fraction of the $400 to $600 he says he could make in Wendover. He's waiting until he can return legally, because of the dangerous conditions at the border and the $1,500 to $2,000 that he says smugglers charge for a border crossing.

Zacatecans interviewed by the Deseret Morning News believe that the United States invites their labor. The salary they earn in the United States allows them to provide for their families by sending money back to their hometowns to support a parent, a spouse, a child.

Recent comments

Reading this article I am struck by a similarity to an article...

Observation | Sept. 19, 2007 at 9:12 p.m.

as I read thru the comments is not anti immigrations is anti-mexican...

observer | Sept. 18, 2007 at 12:21 a.m.

It is time the news media stopped portraying illegal aliens as...

biased citizen | Sept. 17, 2007 at 9:30 p.m.

Image
Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret Morning News

Efren Carrillo, 14, likes the rural Mexican town where he lives because he's close to animals, but he longs to return to Wendover, Utah, his birthplace.

previousnext

Latest comments

Tommy is a Prophet, Seer and Revelator! Not there is a good myth!

Why bury GM story?

The UAW are America workers who once build the largest corporation on earth...

It's rotten in Baghdad

@@mark B | 12:39 p.m. Even George W. Bush was against the surge until his...

It seems the Trail Blazers didn't do much to help themselves, but did do a...

As one who was once falsely accused of similar acts, but later the young girl...

REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED WHEN UTAH GAVE TOO MUCH FOR OSTERTAG? iT SCREWED THEM...

These teens re-lived the hardships of the Mormon Trail? Such silly...

Guess what?!! The rest of the world thinks MORMONS ARE NOT MORAL!!!

It's rotten in Baghdad

@If I were Obama | 7:25 a.m. So funny. LMAO with this comment. Just...

"Fight the Power" is trying to make a civil rights analogy here that...

Advertisements