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Outlaws in the United States, strangers at home
MSNBC ^ | 7/12/2009 | Steve Hendrix

Posted on 07/12/2009 1:05:09 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity

CONCEPCION CHIQUIRICHAPA, Guatemala - Leaving Guatemala 12 years ago was the hardest thing Carlos Sanchez had ever done.

Until he decided to come back.

Sanchez still remembers the day he left home: saying goodbye to his parents; leaving his friends; that last tear-stained glimpse of his sweet mountain village in western Guatemala as the bus carried him over the ridge to an uncertain life in "the north." Painful, anxious times.

But not as hard as the return trip. When Sanchez, 36, arrived back in Central America recently, after living a third of his life as an illegal immigrant in suburban Washington, he stepped off the flight from Dulles International Airport into a cultural no man's land. He had been an outlaw migrant in one country; now he was a native-born stranger in the other.

For years, Sanchez had worked all the overtime hours he could handle as a supervisor for a granite counter contractor in Springfield. Last year, overtime slipped to part time and then almost no time. After months of looking for work, he started looking at airfares.

An expatriate's longing for his native land is often searing. But Sanchez, like thousands of Latino immigrants forced back across the border in recent months by the sinking economy, is learning sooner than he wanted to that going home again can be even more complicated.

Almost at once upon his return, he was felled by a bout of the turistas. His Arlington County-born toddler, Marvin, also took sick, and Sanchez nearly panicked at the difficulty in finding a doctor. His wife, Gladys, was no longer comfortable in the traditional garments of Mayan women, finding them heavy and stiff compared with the Old Navy blouses and jeans she bought at Potomac Mills.

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aliens; immigrantlist
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Well, here's your latest illegal alien sob-story. It's our fault they're having a hard time fitting in at home when they decide to self-deport.
1 posted on 07/12/2009 1:05:09 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity
My "Give a damn" must be broken..


2 posted on 07/12/2009 1:08:59 PM PDT by darkwing104 (Lets get dangerous)
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity
that last tear-stained glimpse of his sweet mountain village in western Guatemala

If it was that "sweet" he never should have left. What crap.

3 posted on 07/12/2009 1:11:00 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity

I feel so sorry for the poor, poor illegal.


4 posted on 07/12/2009 1:11:07 PM PDT by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink)
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity

At long, long last, he’s been reunited with his documents.


5 posted on 07/12/2009 1:12:07 PM PDT by willgolfforfood
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity
Sanchez still remembers the day he left home: saying goodbye to his parents; leaving his friends; that last tear-stained glimpse of his sweet mountain village in western Guatemala as the bus carried him over the ridge to an uncertain life in "the north."

If his "sweet mountain village" was so lovely, why did he leave?

6 posted on 07/12/2009 1:12:11 PM PDT by Kieri (The Conservatrarian)
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity
"His wife, Gladys, was no longer comfortable in the traditional garments of Mayan women, finding them heavy and stiff compared with the Old Navy blouses and jeans she bought at Potomac Mills."

Then his wife should go to the Guatemalan sewing factory where those Old navy blouses and jeans are made and buy some new ones. Apply for a job while she's at it.

7 posted on 07/12/2009 1:13:48 PM PDT by Nathan Zachary
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
At Valdemar Travel in Takoma Park, the proportion of one-way air tickets south has reached unprecedented levels, nearing 60 percent of the firm's business earlier this year, manager Devin Reyes said.

Takoma Park, Maryland has been a huge sanctuary, to the point of extinguishing spoken English in any of the stores in Takoma Park, which in the 50s-60s was a nearly half-Jewish, the rest Protestant/Catholic suburb directly abutting Washington DC. Now, a traveler passing through on 6-lane New Hampshire Avenue or University Boulevard (the largest traffic intersection of Takoma-Langley outdoor mall) can barely drive more than 20 miles per hour, due to the illegals driving 15 mph UNDER the speed limit to avoid an encounter with authorities.

8 posted on 07/12/2009 1:13:57 PM PDT by Albion Wilde (If ten percent is good enough for Jesus, it ought to be good enough for Uncle Sam. --Ray Stevens)
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To: R. Scott

This is the same kind of garbage that is written about felons in American prisons. Crackhead robs a liquor store, does 10 years in the slammer, and I’m supposed to cry for him because of his troubles after he gets out.

It’s a great life-lesson. Do what’s right and you won’t have to worry about this sort of thing.


9 posted on 07/12/2009 1:16:42 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity (Liberalism is a social disease.)
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity

The outrage that is that he managed to live and work in the U.S. for 12 years.


10 posted on 07/12/2009 1:19:27 PM PDT by Red Dog #1
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity
Plenty of illegals have sent so much money home that they are set up for life when they go back. They will suck what they can out of America and leave when it no longer suits them...
11 posted on 07/12/2009 1:19:57 PM PDT by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity

Really.


12 posted on 07/12/2009 1:22:09 PM PDT by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink)
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity
Sanchez, I'm so happy that you are back with your family where you belong.

Now stay there. Forever.

13 posted on 07/12/2009 1:22:12 PM PDT by Cheburashka (It's a _happy_ Russian novel. Everybody still dies, but everybody dies happy.)
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To: 2banana

I’d contribute my “stimulus” money to help a few head back home....


14 posted on 07/12/2009 1:24:06 PM PDT by Manly Warrior (US ARMY (Ret) "No Free Lunches for the Dogs of War")
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity

15 posted on 07/12/2009 1:25:09 PM PDT by pizamoto
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity
He met his wife in Arlington, where he was surprised one day to see a woman walking along dressed in a huipile, a traditional Mayan blouse, embroidered, amazingly, in the colors and patterns particular to his home village.

Or...

His wife, Gladys, was no longer comfortable in the traditional garments of Mayan women, finding them heavy and stiff compared with the Old Navy blouses and jeans she bought at Potomac Mills.

So she was still wearing the traditional garments here in the U.S. but all of a sudden she's "uncomfortable" wearing them in Guatemala.


16 posted on 07/12/2009 1:27:33 PM PDT by raybbr (It's going to get a lot worse now that the anchor babies are voting!)
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To: 2banana
Without a SSN how did he fill out his tax return each year? Gee do you think he never did? You came here to suck the life out of the USA and leave when done. Well that time is now. Goodbye, don't come again.
17 posted on 07/12/2009 1:30:24 PM PDT by Kozy (Calling Al Gore)
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity

I hate all these “illegal aliens have more rights than American citizens” crap pieces

No sympathy for someone who took a job from an American...and artificially lowered the wages for many other Americans.

Gee I am sorry Mr Guatemala’s wife has to wear those Mayan clothes....but hey it will only be until 2012....


18 posted on 07/12/2009 1:33:29 PM PDT by UCFRoadWarrior (The Biggest Threat To American Soverignty Is Rampant Economic Anti-Americanism)
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To: willgolfforfood
At long, long last, he’s been reunited with his documents.

He's being re-united with all the loot he's been sending home. He can live like a king there

19 posted on 07/12/2009 1:36:23 PM PDT by dennisw (Free Republic is an island in a sea of zombies)
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity

Where do I click to get the violin music to play?


20 posted on 07/12/2009 1:41:38 PM PDT by BwanaNdege (Semper Fi)
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