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News Blog posts insightful comments on the latest international news that render us taken-aback in the domain of human-life on earth. News Blog Sample News 1 Living in the shadows: An illegal immigrant tells what life is like and why he's going home: Sun July 22, 2007 Leonardo has a wife, a steady job and money in the bank. Leonardo also has a secret: He is in the United States illegally.
The slender, 29-year-old Mexican national with slick black hair, a thin mustache and liquid green eyes crossed the border with the help of smugglers in 2005. He joined family already in Gainesville. He has lived here since, avoiding detection through fake documents and a quiet life. But he is willing to speak. News Blog (Continued) Life News 1 Why did you come here? Family and finances. Leonardo was living in Guadalajara, Mexico's second-largest city, with his parents, sister and two brothers when a 1994 economic collapse blamed on former Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari sent interest rates and product prices soaring nationwide. Leonardo said his father left his small meat market and restaurant for America. "He said, 'I need to make some money, because right now it's too hard over here.' He tell me, "I'm gonna stay over there probably two, three years.'" News Blog (Continued) News 1 Leonardo, 17 and the oldest son, quit school to work and help support the family. He got a job at his uncle's tire shop and later worked part-time in security at concerts. Life in the U.S. proved harder than expected for his father, however. Then in Gainesville, he asked Leonardo to come. Leonardo said no. He cited his father's promise to return. But in 1998, Leonardo's mother left for America with his brothers. His sister followed a year later. All crossed the border illegally. Leonardo stayed in the family's four-bedroom home, paying utilities but not realizing there also was a mortgage. A telephone call from the bank telling him and his new wife the house had been sold "(hit) me like a hammer on the head," Leonardo said softly. News Blog (Continued) Life News 1 In about 2003, his wife said she thought they needed to go to America so that Leonardo, now back on speaking terms with his father, could see his family. He balked at first, but later agreed. He and his wife tried unsuccessfully to get a passport. Leonardo said he told the U.S. Consulate General office he wanted to vacation in America. An unfriendly staff questioned him harder. He walked out, losing about 1,000 pesos, or about $100, in the process. News Blog (Continued) News 1 "We left the office very upset. We said, 'Well, we tried for the good way.' They make it hard anyway." Leonardo is clear, though, that need did not drive him from Mexico. Unlike some coming from the country's poor rural areas, he lived in a large city where there were "a lot of opportunities." "We not die for lack of money or anything like that. ... We got our problems, but you still can ... make a good life over there. It takes a little bit longer, but you can make a good life over there." Still, they came. News Blog (Continued) Life News 1 How did you cross the U.S. border? In January 2005, he and his wife left by bus for the border. The trip north took 2´ days. Leonardo's father had arranged the crossing through "coyotes," or smugglers. He gave his son few details. Leonardo had a phone number and directions to stay in a rundown hotel in the Mexican border town of Nogales. The area is rife with drugs and crime, he said. He and his wife were scared. It took all night. News Blog (Continued) Life News 1 They had no flashlights, food or water. Leonardo was robbed at knife point. He couldn't see the thief's face. He handed over 30 pesos and bolted. He and his wife stumbled with the group through the rugged, cold desert, dodging border patrol agents. By night's end, he was half-carrying her. They stayed in the woods and a private barn the following day. Next came a human shell game: Coyotes moved them among six cars and a handful of houses. News Blog (Continued) Life News 1 Three days later in Arizona, he and his wife joined about eight other immigrants in a Ford Windstar minivan. It carried them to Indianapolis, then North Carolina and finally Gainesville. For secrecy's sake, "I stayed on the floor the whole way," Leonardo said. He remembers occasionally asking on the cross-country ride, "It's pretty close now?" The driver's answer: "No, not yet." News Blog (Continued) Life News 1 How do you justify living here illegally? "That's hard to say," Leonardo said, pausing to think, and finally acknowledging, "I can't do that. ... "The only thing I can say is I been here for two years and a half and I'm trying to do good things. I mean, respect the law." He paid about $75 each for a false Social Security number and card, and an identification card. Both are critical to finding work. Finding someone to supply such documents apparently is not hard in Gainesville. Others tell whom to call, Leonardo said. He drives but he does not have a fake driver's license. He reasons that if caught behind the wheel, it is better if he does not also face a charge of driving with illegal documents. His father, he said, has a license and carries insurance on the vehicle. News Blog (Continued) News 1 Leonardo said he does not have a criminal record in Mexico. Nor has he been charged in the U.S. He emphasizes he is trying to do "good things." Others who do "mean things" have fed the backlash against undocumented workers, according to Leonardo. "It's like I tell you, it's hard to say. I like to respect the law. I justify it because I need the money. I need to make a good life over there. ... "So when you (make) the decision, you got no choice. Because you got to sell all your stuff over there. You can leave nothing over there." News Blog (Continued) Life News 1 What is your life like? Low-key. Intentionally. "Wake up early. Take the shower. ... Drive (to) work. Make six, seven, eight hours and come back home before the sun come down. Because I feel more comfortable if I drive in the daylight. "I'm afraid to drive in the middle of the night." Afraid that he might draw attention from police. Leonardo said he checks his car lights and blinkers before driving. He also thanks God. "I'm gonna say thank you, Jesus, that nobody pull me over." News Blog (Continued) News 1 He lives with his parents and siblings. His wife returned to Mexico more than a year ago. She longed to see family. "She say, 'Well, I'm gonna come back over there and stay there and wait for you. So make it whenever you can make it and come back to me.'" He sends money to her and sometimes helps his family, all while trying to save money. "You gotta live in the shadows because sometimes we are afraid somebody sees you and point you (out) as illegal." News Blog (Continued) Life News 1 Are you scared of being caught? Leonardo nods. "My mind sometimes goes crazy. It's like a headache every day. You gotta forget about it. Because if you don't, you're gonna stay in you're house. ... "I've been living here like I'm under probation. Because if somebody catch you, you go straight to the jail." News Blog (Continued) Life News 1 Why did you learn English? "You have to. If you want to survive over here, you got to learn the language. .. Wherever you go, you have to learn the language." He spent 10 to 12 months studying in a Lanier Technical College program. It's free, he said. He also practices through his work, which The Times agreed not to identify. "The bad thing is, if you're working with the Hispanic people, you're never going to practice nothing, because everybody speaks Spanish." But Spanish-friendly businesses, particularly along Atlanta Highway, make survival easier for residents who don't speak English, he said. "You can survive. But it's gone be hard." News Blog (Continued) Life News 1 Do you think you're treated differently as a Hispanic? Leonardo perceives that many see him as "a problem," because he is Hispanic. "If you have (documents), they still look at you like you're a troublemaker. Sometimes, that kind of situation makes you feel bad. You can feel like -- I don't like to say this -- but like trash." Some residents are friendly, he said. Many tend to lump Hispanics into one category: Mexicans. "You want to be American when you are not." News Blog (Continued) Life News 1 How would children affect your return to Mexico? Leonardo and his wife hope to have children. If one had been born while his wife was here, Leonardo said he would want to raise them in Mexico. Part of the reason is what he sees as prejudice from some against Hispanics. Also, he said, "sometimes it's easy to lose your kids over here. They can go to the alcoholic way, drugs, gangs." He also has heard about male Hispanic teens dropping out of school. "So I'm afraid to have kids over here." News Blog (Continued) Life News 1 Have you tried to become legal in the U.S.? Leonardo said he did, but his answer is somewhat confusing. The gist is that he tried for some form of temporary worker permit last year, but ran complicated labor issues and ended up forfeiting $3,500. "The money come back later. I think," he added. Leonardo landed a job when he came to Gainesville and has never left it. News Blog (Continued) Life News 1 Have you used free government health services? "Never. In all this time, I've been trying to take care of myself, trying not to get (bad) sick." Yet, Leonardo also suggested that restrictions regarding health services are "like a big slap on the face of the Hispanic community." Some services can be denied for lack of documents. "And a lot of people need the ... medical service because sometimes we don't take care of our bodies pretty good." News Blog (Continued) Life News 1 Do you think illegal immigrants help or hurt America? They help, Leonardo maintained. Not only do they "raise" Gainesville's economy by filling many blue-collar positions in industries, money taken out of their checks for taxes and Social Security goes into state and U.S. coffers. "They take it out of your checks anyway. They don't care if you're legal or illegal." He looks askance at the call to send all illegal immigrants back. "If you want to send everybody over there. If you say, I want all the Hispanic people out of here. Can you imagine? "I think the Hispanic community ... helps (Gainesville) industry a lot." News Blog (Continued) Life News 1 What about stalled immigration reform and Georgia's crackdown? On the federal side, a pathway to citizenship is "one of those big dreams we been thinking about," he said "It's good for a lot of people, but it's still hard, to me. (Even) if you got papers, you gone see bad faces. Somebody say, 'Well, there's a Mexican.' And they don't care if you got papers or not." Leonardo had little comment on the state law changes, possibly because their impact is more complicated. He did say that because of tighter laws, he has heard that a number of immigrants living locally are planning to return to their home countries in December. His family is among them. "We're fixing to come back home. Finally." News Blog (Continued) Life News 1 What are your plans? Leonardo plans to go home soon, too. If his wife were still here, he might try to stay. "Because now I have a good job. I am with very good people here. "But it's just a dream. We gotta dream with the feet on the floor, that's what we say over there." Over there, in Guadalajara, he hopes to start a business or buy a house. He wants to see his wife again, start a family and forever leave the shadows. "I want to be free again. ... For sure, I'm gonna make a better life. Better than over here. "Because over there, I am completely free." And Leonardo laughs. News Blog Sample Life News 2 Ex-paratrooper says life after war is pale: Sun July 22, 2007 Battle changes you, Bobby Hunter said. "You're kind of a skeptic the rest of your life. You're quieter. You don't worry about death anymore,” he said. "Unless you've been there, you cannot understand it.” As a former member of the 101st Airborne Division who survived many bloody encounters with the Germans, including a bitter siege at Bastogne, Belgium, Hunter has been there. Steeled warriors also don't worry about killing the enemy, said Hunter, 83, who now lives in Gunter, Texas. After a lifetime of learning that killing — violence of any kind — is wrong, Hunter said, the first time you kill someone in battle, "it gives you a funny feeling.” But, he said, once you realize, "Hey, these people are trying to kill me ... it don't take you long to get over it. Here's the bottom line, now think about it, these people are trying to literally lay your brains on the ground. Are you going to like that? Are you going to like them? I don't think so. It's either kill or be killed. It's that simple.” News Blog (Continued) Life News 2 "It didn't bother me one particle. I hated them people. This is a hard thing to say, the only thing I wish is I wish I'd killed more of them. They was trying to kill me and they killed a bunch of my very good friends. I was mad at them people.” Youth helps with this thought process and with dealing with war, old soldiers say. "When people get 35 or 40, you couldn't run them up on the front line,” Hunter said. "They're not immortal anymore.” Hunter was only 20 when he went to war. "I was sorry I missed Normandy,” he said, joining frontline troops soon after the big invasion. "I was gung ho.” Hunter was a paratrooper, one of the guys who jumped behind enemy lines. "Everywhere we went, we were surrounded.” News Blog (Continued) Life News 2 Battle, he recalled, "never did bother me that much. You don't really get afraid until it's over with. Like, you're in a big firefight, when it's over, you wonder, ‘How in the hell did I live through that?'” As horrible and deadly as it all can be, he said, the adrenaline, emotion and monumental nature of what you're doing can make the rest of life pale. "That was the most important and the most thrilling part of your life,” he said. "It's gone. It'll never come back.” When it's over, do you miss it? "More or less,” he said. The feeling drove him to volunteer for the next war, Korea, where he "got wounded pretty bad.” By then he was 26, though. And the guys who fought alongside him seemed different, he said. "It wasn't like the first time.” News Blog Comment: Life - the way we live it - imprints its bitter marks on our soul. We lose our innocence along with the joy that we had when we were fresh! We turn stale as we turn old. In fact, we never go young. From ignorant childhood, we straight jump into a stressful adulthood of knowledge that stands nearer to the senility of age than to the spirit of youth. What has gone wrong, and where? Wanna have some bidding fun with 'Lifestyle' stuff on ebay auction? You might grab a bargain or two! Just say your bid and you're done: I invite you to subscribe to my E-zine titled Life Coach, free of charge. This E-zine publishes insightful comments on the latest international news that render us taken-aback in the domains of various facets of life. A not-to-be-missed opportunity! Subscribe to it here: I also invite you to subscribe to my Life Blog - no need to provide your e-mail address here. This RSS feed keeps you informed about new developments taking place on this site. It also harbors 25 journal bloglets posting insightful comments on the latest international news that render us taken-aback in the domains of various facets of life. 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