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1) find a place to stay and also to find work. During the 5 months I spent in Escuintla, I had two jobs. The first one as an assistant to a DJ/party promoter. I then worked at an autobus company, “Transportes Esperanza”. I was assistant to a driver. I also washed the buses and the owners’ cars.
2) After 5 months in Guatemala, and having saved some money, I decided to go to Mexico. My boss helped me to go to Mexico because the company buses travel there and they took me with them. They also put me in touch with some friends of them in the city of Tapachula, in the State of Chiapas. I spent a week there. Then I took the train to Oaxaca, where I was intercepted by Mexican immigration officers. They interrogated me and they sent me to jail. I was only 13 years old. I was imprisoned with adults. And then they sent me back to Guatemala.
3) In Guatemala, I met a guy from El Salvador who had been deported at the same time. He told me he has a family in Ciudad Hidalgo. I agreed to go with him to his family. So it was back again to Mexico. Because Guatemalans can cross into Ciudad Hidalgo without difficulty, I was able to cross the border without being asked many questions.
4) For two months I stayed with this man and his family in Ciudad Hidaldo. They were a Christian family and they explained to me about Christian life. I thought this was my salvation, and I became a Christian. During those two months I worked on the farm, saving money and also contributing to the household. Unfortunately, the section of the Panamerican highway near Ciudad Hidalgo, where I was staying, featured heavy police patrols. As a result, I could not travel within Mexico from Ciudad Hidalgo.
5) So, after saving up some money, I decided to go back to Guatemala and enter Mexico through a different border point at Las Mesillas, where there would be less police presence. Moving through the mountains near the highway, I found a town named Comalapa. I took a bus to Chicomuselo. I arrived at a Christian Church and they found a job for me in a clothes store, where I worked for two months for a man called Juan Gonzalez. I saved money and I went to Chiapa de Corzo. I made friends with a man who lived in Chiapa de Corzo. He and his family found me another job there as a waiter. I saved money there for another two months. Then I took a bus to Tuxtla Gutierrez, and from there another one to Veracruz. I was lucky my ID was not checked by police during this time.
6) I made it to the port of Veracruz’s central autobus station. I bought a ticket to Tampico, in the State of Tamaulipas. I stayed in Tampico for 4 months. I went to the central Catholic church and talked to the priest, who helped me get a job. I worked at a workshop where they repaired air conditioning equipment and refrigerators. When I managed to save enough money, I decided to go to Matamoros City, on border between Tamaulipas and the U.S.
7) I went to the central Catholic church in Matamoros and asked the priest how could I cross the border to the U.S. He gave me the address of a centre for refugees and migrants. I met a 19 year-old Honduran man who agreed to cross with me to the U.S.
United States of America
8) I was fourteen years old. We crossed the Rio Bravo (Rio Grande), by swimming. After travelling for some time on the other side, we were intercepted by the U.S. immigration police. We ran and ended up in a swamp. My friend went very deep into it, so he was not caught by the U.S. agents. I stayed close to the edge and was caught. The officers got me into a patrol. Then my friend shouted at the agents and surrendered himself.
9) We were taken to an immigration detention centre, where they interrogated us and took our fingerprints. My friend was sent to a prison for adults. Since I was a minor, I was sent to an Immigration detention house for minors in Brownsville. The detention house was full of young migrants.