Make a living because of a downturn of the economy and

Make a living because of a downturn of the economy and increases in the price of fuel in 2002: ….when I needed a recommendation [for a salaried position], I didn’t have one because I never worked for anyone. There came a time when I had to sell my vehicle. So, I didn’t have any money and had to look for a job…. [they would ask] “Can you bring a letter of recommendation?” I hadn’t been working for a business or anything. And I realized that after 38 you don’t get a job as easily. He ascribed his dilemma in part to changing economic conditions that made subsisting on one’s own increasingly untenable. This is not unlike the story of a 32 year old Guatemalan man who had incurred a debt in his attempt to retain ownership of his family property. When he was unable to pay, he migrated to the U.S. to acquire the capital necessary to pay the debt. He said, “The truth is that when I went [to the U.S.] it was with the intention of making a little money for my children and settling a debt I had for some land in Guatemala. I put myself at risk and went out of sheer necessity. The reasons for leaving one’s homeland are rarely strictly economic and can R848 supplier involve a combination of causes and motivations. The decision-making and final act of picking up and going can entail snap decisions or poignant protracted discussions and consultations with partners, family members, kin, buy BAY1217389 coyotes (human trafficker). The same 32 year old Guatemalan man explained how he decided to leave: I told my wife one week before leaving, I told her that my brother could loan me the cost of a coyote, I told my wife this because of our necessity. She accepted this, but was not convinced. She thought that something could happen to me or even that I would never come back. Her fear was that I would not return and that she would be left alone with the children. The process of deciding to leave represents the first step in an incessant series of negotiations with people, states, institutions, and circumstances. These negotiations occur on the road, crossing borders, looking for work and shelter, hooking up with family members or compatriots, or staying alone. And the nature of these negotiations are often based onNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptCity Soc (Wash). Author manuscript; available in PMC 2015 April 01.Quesada et al.Pagechance, luck, or well laid plans that are contingent to external social and natural conditions that the undocumented encounter. A young Mexican man in his mid-twenties from Sinaloa who has been in the U.S. less than a year explained how he had extended family in the country who for years encouraged him to come, but he was never interested. As trying economic conditions in Mexico led to more violence in his community, he began to change his mind. He finally decided to leave when he got caught in the middle of a gun fight and witnessed a young man die 20 feet away from him: The drug cartels are everywhere and the government can do nothing. In fact they are the problem because they are in with one or the other of them. I could not stay anymore because just going out to walk to work was not safe……….when I came here [the US], I had family in Greeley [northern California rural community], but they were not very welcoming or helpful, so that is how I ended up here in San Francisco with my cousin. Once in California, new sets of external factors have to be contended with and negotiated.NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Autho.Make a living because of a downturn of the economy and increases in the price of fuel in 2002: ….when I needed a recommendation [for a salaried position], I didn’t have one because I never worked for anyone. There came a time when I had to sell my vehicle. So, I didn’t have any money and had to look for a job…. [they would ask] “Can you bring a letter of recommendation?” I hadn’t been working for a business or anything. And I realized that after 38 you don’t get a job as easily. He ascribed his dilemma in part to changing economic conditions that made subsisting on one’s own increasingly untenable. This is not unlike the story of a 32 year old Guatemalan man who had incurred a debt in his attempt to retain ownership of his family property. When he was unable to pay, he migrated to the U.S. to acquire the capital necessary to pay the debt. He said, “The truth is that when I went [to the U.S.] it was with the intention of making a little money for my children and settling a debt I had for some land in Guatemala. I put myself at risk and went out of sheer necessity. The reasons for leaving one’s homeland are rarely strictly economic and can involve a combination of causes and motivations. The decision-making and final act of picking up and going can entail snap decisions or poignant protracted discussions and consultations with partners, family members, kin, coyotes (human trafficker). The same 32 year old Guatemalan man explained how he decided to leave: I told my wife one week before leaving, I told her that my brother could loan me the cost of a coyote, I told my wife this because of our necessity. She accepted this, but was not convinced. She thought that something could happen to me or even that I would never come back. Her fear was that I would not return and that she would be left alone with the children. The process of deciding to leave represents the first step in an incessant series of negotiations with people, states, institutions, and circumstances. These negotiations occur on the road, crossing borders, looking for work and shelter, hooking up with family members or compatriots, or staying alone. And the nature of these negotiations are often based onNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptCity Soc (Wash). Author manuscript; available in PMC 2015 April 01.Quesada et al.Pagechance, luck, or well laid plans that are contingent to external social and natural conditions that the undocumented encounter. A young Mexican man in his mid-twenties from Sinaloa who has been in the U.S. less than a year explained how he had extended family in the country who for years encouraged him to come, but he was never interested. As trying economic conditions in Mexico led to more violence in his community, he began to change his mind. He finally decided to leave when he got caught in the middle of a gun fight and witnessed a young man die 20 feet away from him: The drug cartels are everywhere and the government can do nothing. In fact they are the problem because they are in with one or the other of them. I could not stay anymore because just going out to walk to work was not safe……….when I came here [the US], I had family in Greeley [northern California rural community], but they were not very welcoming or helpful, so that is how I ended up here in San Francisco with my cousin. Once in California, new sets of external factors have to be contended with and negotiated.NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Autho.