602 319 6813
nickoza1@yahoo.com
  • Home

Essays

  • Deportees

© 2011 Nick Oza

159436  shelter  07/08/09  Frank Olachea Martin (cq) 50, prays in front of the US border camera’s talking about god’s scriptures and how they are treating undocumented people.  Martin, spent 32 years in the United States, caring for the elderly, until he was deported. Now, he cleans buses for a living and buys first-aid supplies from his meager salary. “When I see these feet,” Martin said, applying antiseptic ointment to a man’s toes, “I see the feet of Jesus Christ.” Photo by Nick Oza/ The Arizona Republic 159436  shelter  07/08/09  Frank Olachea Martin (cq) 50,  a good Samaritans show up with food, clothing or medical care. Martin, tends to the blisters and cuts. He said he spent 32 years in the United States, caring for the elderly, until he was deported. Now, he cleans buses for a living and buys first-aid supplies from his meager salary. “When I see these feet,” Martin said, applying antiseptic ointment to a man’s toes, “I see the feet of Jesus Christ.” Photo by Nick Oza/ The Arizona Republic 159436  shelter  07/08/09 One of the deportees wears Obama’s t-shirt, waits for three minute phone call at Grupos Beta (cq) an agency which help deportees to call their family to provide money for bus so they can go back to their family in Mexico. Photo by Nick Oza/ The Arizona Republic 159436  shelter  07/08/09  One of the deportee women burst in to tears  while Father Donald Bahlinger (cq) says the prayers at food shelter called CAMDEP ( Center para la  Ayuda a  Migrante DEPortado ). This christian group provides food and some time clothing to the deportees.  Photo by Nick Oza/ The Arizona Republic 159436  shelter  07/08/09  Women deportees Gloria Castella(cq) 24, on left, with Alejo Martinez (cq) 5, and Carla Rivera (cq) 18, at Albergue Juan Bosco (cq) a shelter where these deportees can stay for three days.  Gloria Castella(cq) 24, shares her story said, she was visiting her sick mom in Mexico (cq)  and was caught while she was crossing the U.S. border going back to be with her husband and her children who resides in Florida (cq). Photo by Nick Oza/ The Arizona Republic 159436  shelter  07/08/09 Deportees from U.S. waits in line for food at CAMDEP (Center para la  Ayuda a  Migrante DEPortado ) near Mariposa Entry. They have to show deportation papers to get feed. Photo by Nick Oza/ The Arizona Republic 159436  shelter  07/08/09  Undocumented deportees, listens to the rules and regulation at Albergue Juan Bosco (cq) a shelter where these deportees can stay for three days. There dream of heading north and finding prosperity in America, only to get arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol and returned to Mexico. The poorest of those who fail often wind up at a makeshift shelter in Nogales, Sonora, just a few hundred feet south of the International line, trying to figure out what to do with the rest of their lives.Photo by Nick Oza/ The Arizona Republic 159436  shelter  07/08/09  Deportee, Alejandra Villalobos (cq) 36, with her son Victor (cq) 12, calling her family for more money to catch a bus from Nogales to Navajoa , Mexico (cq). Alejandra Villalobos (cq) 36, said, it took six days in desert to arrive Phoenix with her two children and was caught as soon as she arrived Phoenix and was deported back to Mexico. Villalobos (cq) said she is going back home to Navajoa , Mexico (cq). Photo by Nick Oza/ The Arizona Republic 159436  shelter  07/08/09  Deportees uses small piece of mirror to shave his face before he goes to food shelter. Most of the deportees clean themselves well before crossing the border. Photo by Nick Oza/ The Arizona Republic 159436  shelter  07/08/09 Deportees takes a shower in the cemetery some of them tried to find a place to stay since they ran out of resources. Photo by Nick Oza/ The Arizona Republic 159436  shelter  07/08/09  Youth deportees tries to jumps through the border fence in Mariposa entry. Photo by Nick Oza/ The Arizona Republic 159436  shelter  07/08/09  Fernando Coria (cq) 24, staring at the border before praying to god while he plans to cross the border fence. Coria (cq) 24, of Michoacan says he migrated to the United States with his family when he was 6. He grew up as an American, becoming a painter. The former Phoenix resident now has a girlfriend and two children – all U.S. citizens – in Salt Lake City.
Coria says he was stopped for a traffic violation in March and put on the bus to Nogales, where he has been stuck ever since. There are no relatives in Michoacan, a place he has not visited since childhood.
“It’s so hard. Everyone in my family is in Utah,” he adds. “My wife says she won’t come here. She’s never been to Mexico, but doesn’t like it.”
Coria tried to re-enter the United States, but got caught. He bears no resentment, only a resigned sadness. “I understand the law, and I respect it. But I have no choice,” he says. “I’ll try one more time, because America is my first country, and Mexico is my second. I love the United States.” Photo by Nick Oza/ The Arizona Republic 159436  shelter  07/08/09  Deportee, Javier Lopez (cq) rest his feet after five days of walking in the desert and was caught and deported back to Mexico. Photo by Nick Oza/ The Arizona Republic Borderfence 12/20/08  Women crosses border fence from Nogales, Mexico (cq) to US, with a men believed to be coyotes. Even with tough sanctions and tough economy in United States does not stop some desperately poor immigrants to cross the border illegally.   Photo by Nick Oza/ The Arizona Republic 159436  shelter  07/08/09  Hector  Luna (cq) on far right, and Luis Castaneda (cq) in center, living U.S. for two decades were deported from Phoenix, Az. (cq) Luis was a welder in Arizona said, he never had any criminal history, I was trying to provide american dream fro my family. Photo by Nick Oza/ The Arizona Republic 159436  shelter  07/08/09 Newcomers deportees at the Albergue (shelter) Juan Bosco (cq) in Nogales, Mexico(cq), where these deportees can stay for three days before they leave to their home town in Mexico and some tries to cross the border back to U.S. Photo by Nick Oza/ The Arizona Republic 159436  shelter  07/08/09  Deportees desperately pushes each other to get clothes and shoes from No More Death agencies, in Nogales , Mexico (cq).  Photo by Nick Oza/ The Arizona Republic 159436  shelter  07/08/09  Deportees takes a nap outside Grupos Beta (cq) an agency which help deportees to call their family to provide money for bus so they can go back to their family in Mexico. Photo by Nick Oza/ The Arizona Republic 159436  shelter  07/08/09  U.S. Border Patrols watching every move along the border fence with high tech gears. Photo by Nick Oza/ The Arizona Republic 159436  shelter  07/08/09  Fernando Coria (cq) 24, staring at the border before praying to god while he plans to cross the border fence. Coria (cq) 24, of Michoacan says he migrated to the United States with his family when he was 6. He grew up as an American, becoming a painter. The former Phoenix resident now has a girlfriend and two children – all U.S. citizens – in Salt Lake City.
Coria says he was stopped for a traffic violation in March and put on the bus to Nogales, where he has been stuck ever since. There are no relatives in Michoacan, a place he has not visited since childhood.
“It’s so hard. Everyone in my family is in Utah,” he adds. “My wife says she won’t come here. She’s never been to Mexico, but doesn’t like it.”
Coria tried to re-enter the United States, but got caught. He bears no resentment, only a resigned sadness. “I understand the law, and I respect it. But I have no choice,” he says. “I’ll try one more time, because America is my first country, and Mexico is my second. I love the United States.” Photo by Nick Oza/ The Arizona Republic 159436  shelter  07/08/09 Deportees on left, walks back towards fence to cross the border on their own in Nogales, Mexico. Photo by Nick Oza/ The Arizona Republic Ernesto Gonzalez, 30, an illegal immigrant who was deported to the Mexican border, sells breads in downtown Nogales while deciding his next step. Like many immigrants returned to Mexico, Gonzalez, had lived in the United States for 25 years before being taken away from his new life and family.