Jalos, USA: Transnational Community and Identity

Chapter Six: Jalos, USA

105 C h a P t e R s I x Jalos, Usa “I don’t think you feel the shock of going to a different type of city [in going from Jalos to turlock]. . . . here [turlock] . . . you kind of feel comfortable in your zone. It’s almost like you are moving from one community to another [in Mexico].” the speaker is socorro lópez, the youngest of the lópez children. she believes that people who come from Jalos to turlock experience less cultural shock than if they migrated to other american cities, especially a large city such as los angeles. turlock seems unique, since a lot of people from Jalos are already settled there, and it offers newcomers a strong support network. For undocumented residents, however, there is still the basic worry of deportation, despite the familiarity of the area and strong support network. socorro’s comment contrasts sharply with that of Manuel Ruiz. after his wife, ofelia, indicated in our interview that she wanted to stay in the United states, he added, well, I would like to stay here too. the thing is that . . . one has to open one’s eyes and see what lies ahead, and we have to recognize that this is not our country. we are here illegally. that’s the point. we have to stay here, for my part, yes, I would stay. 106 Jalos, usa But say that tomorrow Immigration will catch us, and then what? there are no guarantees. the truth is that we would have to leave, wouldn’t we? a number of scholars have pointed to the impact that being undocumented has on the lives of immigrants. they have also described the difficulties involved in establishing trust between researchers and undocumented immigrants (see hagan 1994, xii). one of the strategies that Jacqueline hagan employed, for example, was to establish reciprocal relationships, which included helping immigrants in preparing their documents for legalization (1994, xii). she found that most of the legalized Mayan immigrants in her study made regular trips back to guatemala, and some stayed for as long as six months (1994, 163). “In contrast, the undocumented of the houston Maya community voice greater fear than ever of returning home for a visit and being apprehended at the U.s. border” (1994, 164). Because of increasingly tight immigration measures, most undocumented salvadoran immigrants also find it very difficult to go back and forth to el salvador (Menjívar 2000, 75). In this chapter I continue to examine migration and the cultural changes and adaptations that transnational migrants face when they come to the United states, through my interviews with turlock residents . the focus, again, is on how life changes on this side of the border and the extent to which people are able to maintain their language , traditions, and cultural values. also of continued interest is an issue discussed in chapter 4, namely, how gender and the roles of men and women change in the United states, as well as differences in how children are raised in Mexico and in this country. since nearly all migrants from Jalos enter the United states without papers, an additional consideration is the impact of being undocumented on the migrant experience. given their undocumented status, most migrants from Jalos live their lives in constant fear of detection and deportation . Manuel Ruiz entered the United states before his wife, and like most migrants, he expected to remain for only a year or so. But he found a good job and eventually brought ofelia across the border. he recognizes that it would be difficult to stay, with the way “the situation was” now, and that it might be better to go back after all. Jalos, usa 107 well, it’s like this. how can I tell you? I am doing well at work and everything. the only thing is that because I don’t have a license , I risk that the police will stop me and take my car, in addition to the court and everything else. If one gets an infraction, if we are in an accident or something, there is a chance of deportation and all that. there are other reasons. one can’t protect oneself against those things. “ C r u z a n d o e l C e r r o ” Juan and socorro Pérez, whose “lovely” start to their courtship at a Jalos fiesta was described earlier...