My father the Mexican

Here is a very brief outline of my father's journey to the USA from Mexico.

Raul Estrada born in 1905 in Monterrey, Mexico and died in 1948, El Paso,
Texas.

At the age of 16 he crossed illegally the border from Mexico to the USA. He
was apprehended by the Border Patrol and deported a total of 5 times. Raul
crossed illegally the deadly Arizona desert once and almost died of thirst.
While crossing the Arizona desert he did manage to find some water but it was
crawling with worms. He drank some of it anyway.

His main work was as a painter, plasterer and decorator. At other times he
worked as a sheep herder, occasionally as a migrant worker in the farms, and in
railroad construction. In 1933 he and his brothers moved to Magdalena, New
Mexico where he met and married my mother. After his last deportation he
finally was allowed to apply for his immigration visa in 1940 because his wife
and four children were American citizens. As part of the penalty, however, he
had to spend 10 months in Juarez, Mexico before he could join his family in the
USA.

Three of their children are college graduates.

Gloria