Claudia González, 36, worships at her church in Tamaulipas, México on Sept. 17, 2023. After living in Texas for two decades and receiving a work permit through DACA, she applied for her green card, hoping to become a legal permanent U.S. resident., The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.
“It was really hard to receive that message; I was heartbroken,” she said. “I thought about my son. He just started high school, so my thought was that he’ll be 24 by the time I can return and he probably already will have graduated college.” But the current system can be fickle and unforgiving even for those who want to do it the right way. And unlike the criminal justice system, there is no way to appeal the 10-year ban, and immigration officials don’t have to provide the evidence they have to support their decision.
In January, Guadalupe González requested U.S. asylum after suspected drug cartel members began breaking into people’s homes; four years earlier her oldest son was kidnapped from the ranch where he worked by men the family believes were cartel members, in front of his wife and children. He hasn’t been heard from since.
Top: Claudia González left her 15-year-old son with his father in Houston while she lives in Mexico and tries to find a legal way to return to her family. Bottom left: González plays lotería with family after church in Tamaulipas. Bottom right: Bottle caps on lotería cards.In October, Salem filed a request for humanitarian parole, which would allow Claudia González to reenter the U.S. and resubmit her green card application. The request remains pending with the U.S.
There's' very little work; many locals depend on money sent home by relatives working on the other side of the border. On a Sunday afternoon in September, González wore a green dress and carried a Bible with a black leather cover as she walked the dirt road to the local evangelical church. On the weekends Guadalupe González would return to the village to visit Claudia, then relatives would drop her at the border on Sunday afternoons so she could return to work in Texas.When work slowed in McAllen, she said she headed north to Bay City and picked cotton for a few weeks before moving to Houston, where she worked at different restaurants before she started to clean houses in 1999. She would work two months at a time, then return to Mexico for a week at a time.
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