Adam

“Deportación e historia oral: la historia de la
deportación según los deportados”
Adam Goodman
University of Pennsylvania
7 de mayo de 2013
OVERVIEW OF PAPER
•
To understand the history of deportation we must go beyond the governmental
archives of the immigration service, which include much about the development of
policies until the 1950s. But they don’t include migrants’ voices and perspective. And
when they do it’s always filtered through immigration officials. Yet migrants themselves
who find themselves within the detention and deportation system are those most
affected by it, and their stories and experiences must be included in the larger, complex
history of deportation. Conducting oral histories with Mexican migrants and deportees
taught me both the contributions and limitations of oral history.
•
Over the course of the last few months I’ve conducted oral histories with 18 people (14
men, 4 women) and discussed their lives, experiences migrating, and interactions with
U.S. Border Patrol and immigration officials. Some migrated north and stayed there;
others returned to Mexico under various circumstances, and a few decided never to
migrate in the first place. But what is clear after talking with them is that all of their
lives have been affected by interactions with U.S. immigration officials and by their own
deportation or the deportation of their family and friends. This was not something I
knew from the beginning. However, before realizing all of this I had to learn how to talk
about deportation. This paper analyzes the diverse experiences of deportees and the
variety of ways in which they remember and describe their experiences of detention
and deportation.
Adam: “Conocía otras personas que los
deportaron?”
Adam: Did you know other people that
got deported?
Rafael: “Que los reportaron a uno?”
Rafael: That they reported someone?
Adam: “Deportaron.”
Adam: Deported.
Rafael: “No, no, yo no. Pa’ que voy echar
mentira yo. Yo no conocía de estos
hombres. Nosotros caía la migración de
sorpresa y allí nos agarraban. Y a veces
que si nos avisaban , ‘allí viene la
migración,’ pues corríamos. Pero es que
nos agarraban de sorpresa, nos
agarraban. A mi me agarraban tres nada
más en los 16 años, tres veces, nada
más.”
Rafael: No, no, I didn’t. I’m not going to
lie. I didn’t know any of those men. The
migration officials came upon us by
surprise and apprehended us. And
sometimes they gave us a heads up,
“Here comes the migration officials,” well,
we ran. But it’s that they apprehended us
by surprise, they apprehended us. They
only apprehended me three times in 16
years, three times, that’s all.
Adam: Three times?
Adam: “Tres veces.”
Rafael: Yes.
Rafael: “Sí.”
Adam: “Y cómo, o qué pasó en estas
veces?”
Adam: And how, or what happened on
those occasions?
Rafael: “Me agarraban y me traían al bote
como dicen por allá … me investigaban
por dónde podía entrar y cómo te llamas
y ya todo. Me echaron pa’ fuera.”
Rafael: They apprehended me and they
took me to the can like they say over
there. They investigated where I was able
to cross and what my name was and
that’s it. They threw me out.
Adam: “¿A dónde?”
Adam: To where?
Rafael: “A Mexicali, allí. Allí me echaron
para Mexicali.”
Rafael: To Mexicali, there. There they
threw me out to Mexicali.
Adam: “¿Y usted tenía que firmar algo en
esas tres veces?”
Adam: And did you have to sign
something on these three occasions?
Rafael: “O, sí. Firmamos unos papeles.”
Rafael: Oh, yes. We signed some papers.
Adam: “Y cómo fue este proceso. No sé
bien cómo fue el proceso de, como, salir
del país. O no sé, cómo, en esta oficina de
la migra …”
Adam: And what was the process like. I
don’t know how the process was, like, to
leave the country. Or, I don’t know, how,
in this particular immigration office …
Rafael: “Allí mismo, para firmar uno,
firmaba uno el papel, [no entendible???]
y te echaron pa fuera.”
Rafael: Right there, one had to sign, each
person signed a paper … y then they
threw you out.
Adam: “Y cómo viajaron a la frontera a
México?”
Adam: And how did they transport you to
the Mexican border?
Rafael: “Ellos se llevaban.”
Rafael: They brought us.
Adam: “En …”
Adam: In …
Rafael: “En camión.”
Rafael: By bus.
Adam: “En camión.”
Adam: By bus.
Rafael: “Agarraban, nos echaron pa’ fuera Rafael: They apprehended us, threw us
hasta el camión. Allí te dejaban libre ya, a out by bus. There they finally left you
México ya te dejaban pa’ allá, pa’ afuera.” free, to Mexico finally they left you over
there, outside.
Adam: Y no sé si usted recuerda en que
años …”
Adam: And I don’t know if you remember
in what years …
Rafael: “No.”
Rafael: No.
Adam: “… pasó esas tres …”
Adam: … these three times occurred …
Rafael: “No voy a recordar. Tantas veces.”
Rafael: I’m not going to remember. So
many times.
Rosa: “Mi esposo platica una historia que
cuando él estaba de muchacho. Lo siguió
la migración y lo agarró.”
Rosa: My husband talks about a time
when he was young. Immigration officials
followed him and they apprehended him.
Adam: “¿Tú esposo?”
Adam: Your husband?
Rosa: “Sí. Y lo pusieron … Lo mandaron a
Tijuana. Y se echó 5 días en Tijuana, no se
cruzó, se lo pasó bailando en Tijuana. Y
allí comió 5 … allí bailó en Tijuana 5 días.
[Empieza a reírse.] Y hasta que se acabó
de bailar na’ más dejó pa’ cruzar la
frontera y se volvió a pasar. Así se
cruzaban. No se venían pa’ sus casas.”
Rosa: Yes. And they put him … they sent
him to Tijuana. He spent 5 days in Tijuana,
he didn’t cross back, he spent them
dancing in Tijuana. And there he ate 5 …
there he danced in Tijuana for 5 days.
[Begins to laugh.] And until he finished
dancing, he only stopped to cross the
border and then he crossed again. That’s
how they crossed the border. They didn’t
go back to their houses [in Mexico].
Andrés: “Bueno, yo no los tuve. Duré
como cuatro años y pues, pasó un
accidente de mi hermano, se mató allá y
vinimos y tuve que regresar otra vez por
el cerro.”
Andrés: Well, I didn’t have any problems. I
spent four years there [in the U.S.] and
well, my brother had an accident, they
killed him there [in Mexico] and we came
and I had to cross again through the hills.
Adam: “Y cuando usted regresó o, como,
migró otra vez por el cerro tampoco
encontró la migra?”
Adam: And when you returned or,
migrated another time through the hills
you didn’t run into the migra either?
Andrés: “No, no. Nunca me tocó.
Tuve suerte. Nunca me la encontré.”
Andrés: No, no. They never got me. I was
lucky. They never found me.
Adam: “Entonces, nunca, ¿nunca le
detuvieron o tenía problema?”
Andrés: “No, no. Yo no tuve
problemas.”
Adam: So, never, they never detained you
or you never had a problem?
Andrés: No, no. I never had problems.
Adam: “Y, ¿usted conoció a otras
personas que sí tenían problemas o sí la
migra les detuvieron?”
Adam: And did you know other people
that did have problems or that
immigrations officials detained?
Andrés: “Sí, conocí muchas personas que,
pues, le detenían de la frontera. O se
agarraban les echan pa’ fuera, otros los
detenían allí.”
Andrés: Yeah, I knew many people that,
well, they detained on the border. Or they
apprehended them and threw them out,
others they detained there.
Adam: “…su esposa me contó una
historia, no sé si usted también se
acuerda de la misma historia pero ella me
contó que antes de que se casaron
ustedes la migra le encontró una vez y le
echaron a …”
Adam: … your wife told me a story, I don’t
know if you also remember the same
story but she told me that before you
married la migra found you one time and
threw you out to …
Andrés: “O, sí, sí, sí.”
Andrés: Oh, yes, yes yes.
Adam: “… Tijuana. Para unos días de
bailar o algo, en sus palabras.”
Adam: … Tijuana. For some days of
dancing or something, in her words.
Andrés: “Esa vez, sí, me tocó. O sea, me
agarraron junto con otros pero o sea con
la bola. Pero nosotros en realidad no
íbamos con ellos. Y este, nos detuvieron
allí como testigos pa’ joder al coyote, pero
en realidad nosotros no lo conocíamos. Y
de ese modo, pos, estuve como unas tres
semanas detenido.”
Andrés: This time, yes, they got me. Or,
they apprehended me along with others
but or with the “bola.” But in reality we
weren’t with them. And so they detained
us there as witnesses to screw over the
coyote, but in reality we didn’t know him.
And so, well, I was detained for some
three weeks.
Adam [voz sorprendida]: “Tres
semanas detenido dónde?”
Adam [surprised voice]: Where were you
detained for three weeks?
Andrés: “Allí en San Diego. Pero este, lo
que pasó es que el patrón mío me
necesitaban allá en el rancho y él pagó
una fianza. Cuando ya después regresé a
la corte allí me echaron pa’ fuera. Y ya
después me volví atrás, yo solo.”
Andrés: There in San Diego. But so what
happened is that my boss needed me on
the ranch and he paid my bail. When I
later returned to court they threw me out
[of the country]. And later I came back in,
alone.
Adam: Y usted en ese momento tenía la
opción de quedarse allá y luchar por sus
derechos para quedarse en el país o le
echaron pa’ fuera sin firmar nada?”
Adam: And in this moment did you have
the option to stay and fight for your right
to stay in the country or did they throw
you out without signing anything?
Andrés: “No, sin firmar nada. Yo no salí
deportado de nada. Yo salí bien. Y pos, me
volví a meter. Y ya no. Desde entonces no
hemos tenido problemas. Duremos unos
siete ocho años que no regresamos pa’
acá, pa’ México, hasta que arreglamos
papeles.”
Andrés: No, without signing anything. I
didn’t leave deported from anywhere. I
left on good terms. And well, I returned
again. And from then no. Since then we
haven’t had problems. We spent some 7-8
years during which we didn’t return here,
to Mexico, until we got our papers.