Los Angeles – As us to immigration and customs app increased the incursions In Los Angeles in recent weeks, Julie Ear and his family made a difficult car to Tijuana International Airport, south of the American-Meaxico border.
Ear’s mother, Regina Higuera, had lived in the United States for 36 years. But this morning, at the beginning of June, he left his home, his children and his grandchildren, all of them citizens of the United States, and went to his birthplace in Mexico.
“When ice raids began to collect other states, we knew we would end up hitting,” Ear told CBS News. “No one is sure.”
Since President Trump began his second term, ice has arrested More than 100,000 people in early June, according to data from the internal government obtained by CBS News. The Trump administration has also encouraged migrants without documentation. Last month, was announced I would offer free air tickets and a $ 1,000 incentive to some migrants who chose to leave the United States and return to their own countries on their own.
Ear said that her mother chose to self-report because she “wanted to make sure she control her life.”
“He did not like the uncertainty that someone who came home, or his work, or that he was hit, and only said,” Oh, now you are in Mexico, “Ear said about his mother.
Higuera had crossed the United States illegally when he was only 15 years old and went directly to work in Los Angeles clothing factories, Ear said. She intended to remain only a period of time, to earn enough money and then return to Mexico. But then she met her husband and started a family.
“He has been contributing to the economy, paying taxes every year,” Ear said. “There is no advantage to be undocumented, do not get benefits. He won’t get a pension. He has no 401 (K). He never got food stamps. He didn’t get well -being. People want to come here to work. And you know, it’s not illegal to want to work.”
Now, recently gathered with his own mother in Guerrero, Mexico, Higuera said that almost everything outside his new home is not known.
“I’m happy because I’m no longer stressed,” Higuera told CBS News of his new home in Mexico of his decision to get out of the United States “but there are times when I think of all of you [her family] And I get sad. “
The best life he worked to build in the United States is now being continued by his children.
“That’s why I have such a strong daughter,” Higuera said about the ear. “From an early age, I taught him, we must be strong, regardless of what situation we are.”
Ear said he speaks and texts with his mother daily.
“Sometimes I forget it is so far away because we talk so much,” Ear said. “But that’s when the family passes, it’s when I’m like:” My God, you are not really there. You are actually not here. “”