Grab your hankies, it's going to be a bumpy ride (from the Raleigh N&O)
Maricruz and her husband had lived illegally in the United States so long she had almost forgotten it was a crime.
Then, on Jan. 24, her husband disappeared.
U.S. immigration officials arrested him and 20 other workers at Smithfield Foods' gigantic Bladen County slaughterhouse. They drove him to Georgia and locked him up as an illegal immigrant.
Maricruz's husband, known to his managers as Rodolfo Cordova, found himself in the middle of the nation's new get-tough immigration enforcement strategy. So did his family. The News & Observer is telling their story to offer a fuller picture of how the federal crackdown is playing out in the lives of people who immigrated illegally.
Sniffle.
Maricruz, 39, and her husband, whose real name is Juan, paid a smuggler to bring them over the border almost a decade ago.
A few weeks after her husband's arrest, Maricruz agreed to let a reporter visit her home. She declined, however, to give a last name other than Cordova, the name her husband paid $1,000 for when they arrived in the United States.
The $1,000 that bought the Cordova name also secured a fraudulent birth certificate and Social Security number. That enabled Juan to get hired at Smithfield, Maricruz said.
I am just completely broken up, aren't you?
What this oh-so-sad story mentions and dismisses is that they are illegal! Sure, it is mentioned repeatedly, but, is that any reason to break the family up, or so the N&O is postulating. Guess what, N&O? Lots of families are broken up when a member is sent to jail for other crimes. Why is this any different?
And, as far as the reporter visiting Maricruz real name is not Cordova, doesn't that make her an accessory to a crime? Just because one is a member of the media does not exclude them from the law.
On second thought, maybe the reporter is right, it is sad. So, let's grab the rest of the family, and reunite them all back in Mexico. Sounds fair, right?
