ASU engineering grad returns to Mexico trying to do the "right" thing .

questionsihave · 01:02 AM

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...oscar0704.html

Quote:

MAGDALENA DE KINO, Sonora - Oscar Vazquez stood proudly in his cap and gown as he was introduced as an outstanding graduate from Arizona State University's Class of 2009. He was in the front row, not far from an applauding President Barack Obama, there to deliver the commencement address.

A year later, Vazquez sat in a dark bedroom in this dusty city, his engineering degree tucked in a scrapbook filled with other mementos of his college days.

Even as he listened to Obama speak of brighter futures, Vazquez knew his path first would have to go through Mexico, where he would admit his illegal status and ask for permission to re-enter the U.S.

"I decided to take a gamble and do the right thing," he said.

slideshow Pictures of life in Mexico

Shortly after graduation in May 2009, Vazquez moved to Mexico, separating himself from his U.S. citizen wife and year-old daughter in Phoenix. He figures to remain here at least through March, when, according to a letter from the government, authorities will decide whether he can legally return to the United States.

Vazquez stands by his decision to turn himself in.

"I've got to stay positive," he said. "I have to. Or else you get depressed just being here by myself."

Vazquez lives in a sparsely furnished two-room duplex, spending most of his time in the bedroom, the one room that has air-conditioning. He works the night shift at a factory that produces electronic parts for automobiles. He showed his degree in mechanical engineering to his bosses because they didn't really believe he had one.

Unwilling immigrant

Vazquez, 24, did not want to enter the United States illegally. But he was 12 and, despite his protests, did as his mother told him.

As he got close to college graduation, though, Vazquez knew he had gone as far as an illegal immigrant could go. Companies that hired college graduates did not look the other way when it came to immigration status, something Vazquez learned when he was denied college internships.

"I didn't want to get stuck in a low-end job and not be able to apply my degree to anything," he said.

Vazquez is seeking a waiver of grounds of excludability - essentially asking the government to forgive his illegal presence in the country and allow him to stay. Under the law, because Vazquez illegally remained in the country for so long after his 18th birthday, he is barred from the U.S. for 10 years.

Vazquez must make his case through paperwork. He waits in Mexico for the bureaucracy to churn out a decision.

"So far," Vazquez said, "the right way has been pretty hard."

Vazquez tries to keep himself busy so he doesn't dwell on his situation. He's teaching himself guitar. He's re-reading his college textbooks on rocketry and aerodynamics. He has a dirt bike, a great mode of transportation in this hilly town, where most streets are unpaved. The bike also is something for him to tinker with, keeping his mechanical skills sharp.

Quick visits

Karla, Vazquez's wife, visits when she can, usually for two days at a time. In June, she took a vacation from her job at an airport rental-car counter to spend a week with her husband. She pulled up to his apartment - one half of a house along a dirt road - and honked the horn. Vazquez emerged and approached the car.

"Say hi," Karla told the couple's daughter, Samantha. "Say hi to your daddy."

Vazquez leaned in and tickled Samantha's chin as Karla held her. The couple greeted each other with a quick embrace and a peck, as if Karla had just returned from the store, not a weeks-long separation. Karla said the two want to keep their emotions in check so that Samantha doesn't sense anything unusual. They hope this is resolved in March and that the baby won't remember being separated from her father.

Vazquez doesn't want to miss more of his daughter growing up. She took her first steps two weeks before Vazquez crossed into Mexico, the last milestone he was there to see.

When these trips started, the baby would recoil from Vazquez.

"It did take awhile for her to warm up," Karla said, as Oscar sat on the floor playing with Samantha. "She wouldn't go with him."

The three spend their visits in the apartment. No plans. They just want to be together.

Vazquez and his wife thought about, but quickly dismissed, the idea of the family moving together to Mexico to wait for the U.S. government's decision. "It's better for them to stay back home," Vazquez said. "There's nothing for them to come here for."

Father's footsteps

In his way, Vazquez is making the same sacrifice his father did: crossing a border in hopes of a better life. Vazquez's father, who lives in Phoenix, left the family's small village of Temósachic in Chihuahua and found work in a Phoenix factory that made box springs. He arranged for his wife and son to join him, but Vazquez didn't want to go. He had done well in primary school and won a middle-school scholarship, money his mother used instead on bus tickets to the border town of Agua Prieta, Sonora. Vazquez remained silent on the seven-hour bus ride.

A man drove them to a hole in the border fence and told them to run. It seemed like a marathon to the young Vazquez, though he would later discover it was less than a mile to the Walmart parking lot in Douglas, where they were loaded into a car and driven to Phoenix.

Vazquez excelled at Carl Hayden Community High School in west Phoenix, sticking with the ROTC program even after finding out he couldn't join the military because of his legal status.

Vazquez gained a passion for engineering through the school's robotics club. He and three other club members beat out colleges - including MIT - to win a national underwater-robot competition. Their victory was detailed in Wired magazine.

Vazquez earned scholarships to attend ASU's College of Engineering. His picture graced the cover of the school's recruiting brochure. But he lost the scholarships in 2006 when Arizona passed a law that barred undocumented students • from receiving state financial aid. He also had to pay out-of-state tuition, raising the cost by thousands of dollars. To finish school, Vazquez worked construction jobs and used donations from Wired readers and private scholarships.

Hoping on a DREAM

There's no way to know how many college graduates have sought permission to become legal residents. Most, Vazquez said, still are hoping Congress passes the DREAM Act, which would grant legal status to immigrants who entered as children and went to college or joined the military.

Vazquez said he simply grew frustrated and wanted to take action.

"At least now we know the path we have to take," he said. "It's better to know than it is to be waiting."

Vazquez e-mailed advice to a fellow Arizona student who was trying the same process. In mid-June, he heard that the government had granted her waiver. He doesn't know why she was let in and he hasn't been.

Vazquez's character and accomplishments won't enter into the government's decision. The deciding factor is whether his exclusion from the country would cause "extreme hardship" for his wife.

Karla, a Phoenix native, is angry that her country has to ponder whether her husband of five years can live with his family.

"I see the part where, OK, everyone says they want to secure the border because - you know what? - there are a lot of bad people who come over," she said. "But for everyone who was brought over a child - they don't have a choice."

If Vazquez is denied re-entry, the family probably will move to Canada or Europe. Vazquez's engineering degree means he can find a job fairly easily.

"As it sits right now, I can go anywhere in the world except the United States," he said.

Vazquez tries to keep his situation in perspective. He likens the time away from his wife and daughter to military members serving overseas - fitting because Vazquez still wants to join the service, possibly the Marines, if he isn't too old when he gains residency status.

Much to offer

When he began this process, Vazquez wasn't sure how long he'd be away from his family. Karla and Samantha accompanied him to Juarez in September for his initial hearing.

He was denied his waiver, filed an appeal and was told to expect an answer in two months. He said goodbye to his wife and daughter and moved in with relatives back in his remote hometown, tucked into the mountains of Chihuahua, hoping it would be a brief separation.

But in November, he was told he needed to show more evidence of extreme hardship to his wife. The letter said his case would require further review and that he could expect an answer in 15 months.

Vazquez wanted to live somewhere close enough for his wife and daughter to visit often. But he didn't want to live in a border town because he thought it would be too dangerous. Magdalena, about an hour's drive south of the border, seemed the best choice.

But even in this sparsely populated town, locals told Vazquez not to wear a seat belt. In a hijacking, they told him, it's easier to get away if you're not strapped in.

Vazquez was hired at the auto-parts factory and quickly promoted to night supervisor. Some co-workers know he has an engineering degree.

"They always wonder, 'How come you're here if you're an engineer?' " Vazquez said. "It seems odd to them."

It seems odd to Vazquez, too. And if he allows himself to think about it, his frustration builds. He wants to use his education to contribute to the United States, which has to import engineers.

When he graduated, everyone, including President Obama, was applauding his achievement and his potential. It's hard to think the country would let all that go to waste.

"They have me," he said, his voice rising. "They schooled me. I know the culture. I know everything.

"And yet I'm not good enough to live back there."

Truly sad that he had to make such a decision.

unthinkable · 07-06-2010, 01:57 AM

so much for doing the "right" thing.

Jefe · 07-06-2010, 03:21 AM

the a-holes at Ciudad Juarez love to power trip. Seems like they have something against those who have defied the odds.

FrankoKid · 07-06-2010, 03:45 AM

Damn dude, i live in phoenix too and i wish i could go to ASU. I'm kind of like you looking to move to Mexico before summer ends so i can start school asap and not waste another year. We pretty much are moving everything is set now we will be moving in three weeks

starsNmoons · 07-06-2010, 03:45 AM

How sad! this guy has so much going for him, but pieces of paper. I hope he gets his green card, luckily for him is is married to a USC.

Invictus · 07-06-2010, 05:38 AM

There is potential for this story.

For every ignorant nativist who screams "Get Back In Line!", we can point them to this article. The story of Oscar Vazquez is a symbol of what happens when people try to get back in line and do the right thing.

ivydreamer · 07-06-2010, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Invictus

There is potential for this story.

For every ignorant nativist who screams "Get Back In Line!", we can point them to this article. The story of Oscar Vazquez is a symbol of what happens when people try to get back in line and do the right thing.

Good point. Once again, the broken immigration system tears families apart and creates unnecessary hardship.

But lets be real. He went back to Mexico in order to legalize because he had no other choice, not because it's necessarily the "right" thing. I'm glad their exposing this issue further, but this paper need to get over their own moral high ground. Things are not as black and white as they seem.

Considering he's married to a USC, he would have been able to adjust in the US if he had overstayed his visa. He probably entered without inspection, which is why he has no choice but to return to Mexico.

So maybe it was the "right" thing for him, but it was probably his only option. I can imagine a lot readers assuming every immigrant should return to their country to do this...

Jumpy208 · 07-06-2010, 05:50 PM

Wait, I dont get this. He's married to a USC. Couldnt he have just adjusted his status through marriage and avoided this whole ordeal? I am confused.

unthinkable · 07-06-2010, 06:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jumpy208

Wait, I dont get this. He's married to a USC. Couldnt he have just adjusted his status through marriage and avoided this whole ordeal? I am confused.

Same here. I am soo confused because this is just like volunteering to jump off a building?

queenofhearts · 07-06-2010, 06:39 PM

I think the whole thing that is confusing is the article is somewhat skewed.

The facts, as I believe I've seen both here and with friends who have gone through this, are that if someone marries a USC but came here uninspected (like border crossing, no visa) they MUST return to mexico in order to adjust.

They then have to file for an extreme hardship waiver to ban their spouse for the standard 10 years. Which was this guys case unfortunately.

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ASU engineering grad returns to Mexico trying to do the "right" thing .