V : Good afternoon everyone, my name is Vicente Rivas, next to me are: Grace Constantine and

Carlos Ramirez and today we're going to talk, about relatives that had crossed illegally the border to
United State. Hi Grace.
G : Hi Vicente, good afternoon everyone and thank you for your invitation to this space. Illegal
immigrants are persons who had enter to the United States violating the immigration laws and
without government permission of that country.
V : Do you mean without VISA ?
G : Indeed, as you well mention it Vicente, without Visa or once lawfully entering, remaining within
the country beyond the termination date of a temporary visa.
V : Thanks Grace for the introduction. Also with us, is Carlos Ramirez, who has another story to
share with us, about close relatives who have emigrated illegally to the United States. Good
afternoon Carlos and welcome to this space.
C : Hi Vicente, good afternoon. Good afternoon Grace and a Hi to everyone. To complement Grace's
introduction about immigrants. In United States there is a Department of Homeland Security, and
they have estimated that 14 million unauthorized immigrants live in the United States by November
2015. Can you imagine 14 million of illegal immigrants ?
G : Wow, It's almost the same number of inhabitants in Ecuador.
C : Yeah Grace, and most of them are from Mexico. The 50% come from Mexico, other 20% from
Central America, around a 10% from South America (here we are), and the rest are from Europe.
V : And, What do you think are the principal reasons behind immigration: leave your family, your
friends, your neighborhood and principally your calm and safe, and take this dangerous adventure
and trying to cross the border to another country ?
C : Most immigrants who come to America come for better opportunities for employment, the
opportunity to rejoin with loved ones, for the prospect of providing better lives for themselves and
their family, and for the educational and medical service benefits.
V : Well that's interesting information, but let's start with the central topic of this space: the true
stories about relatives or friends that have crossed the border illegally. Otherwise Miss Hypatia will
score us zero in this video. Grace, do you have any relative who have crossed the border illegally to
United States ?
G : You mean, do WE have... we're cousins, remember ?
V : Yeah, but I'm trying to give more drama to this video...
G : Ahhh ok, well, I'm going to talk about the story of our uncle Harry, but in order for our viewers to
understand my story, I need that you tell us first the story of our Uncle Vicente (the other Vicente).
V : All right ! . Mmm. Firstly, I need to clarify about The Other Vicente. I'm Vicente Rivas Constantine,
and my uncle's name is Vicente Constantine. Well. I remember I was 9 or 10 years old when he
began with his adventures trying to cross the border. He was around 30 years old at that time.
The reason was very simple. He had a girlfriend for a longtime. Her name was Monica. She had a
tourist visa and that was the last year that she could travel to the United States before the time of
admission of their visa expired. She knew that it will be difficult to renew her visa and... she was

unemployed here in Ecuador. She took a decision to travel and make her life there, hoping that my
uncle Vicente would go to the American consulate and got their visa and could travel with her.
C : That's sounds great, but I'm sure that things were wrong and not as they were expected, isn't it?
V : That's right! I remember my grandparents gave the money for the interview in the American
consulate. But finally, They denied a tourist visa to him. During the interview, my uncle made the
mistake of mentioning that his girlfriend was traveling with him. You know ... He had to explain where
he was staying.
She travelled to United States and my uncle stayed here, but in his mind he had only one purpose
"Traveling to the United States to rejoin with his beloved one". So, here it began his first attempt to
cross the border. His girlfriend's family knew a person who worked as COYOTE. This person asked
10 million of sucres to take him across the border to United States. My uncle worked hard for several
months and with my grandparent's help he could collect all the money and pay to the coyote. He quit
his job, and he left Guayaquil with a false passport to New York as destination with two stops: one in
Quito and another one in Guatemala. The route Guayaquil-Quito-Guatemala was peaceful and
successful. But in the stop at Guatemala, one border officer noticed that the passport was fake. He
spent three weeks in jail, and then... he was deported to Ecuador. Our family knew nothing about him
all this time. Remember that at that time there was no cell phones. Around a month after his
departure, he returned home: sad, disappointed, without job and obviously without money.
C: Poor thing !. I imagine how he felt.... : spent all what he had, have passed hardships, having
been three weeks in jail, without nobody known, no family and finally deported without having
achieved his goal of reaching the United States.
I ask you a question Vicente... and what happened with the money that he paid to the coyote ? He
could recovered some of it?, He could contact the coyote again?
V : Well Carlos, in these cases it's very difficult to contact them again after the travel. They are very
careful with everything. They choose the place of meetings, using publics telephones, nicknames,
etc. In short, it was unable to recover any of the money.
C : And what about the abuse by border policemen. Is it truth ? did your uncle suffer any of these
abuses?
V : When he came back home, he preferred not to talk about it, because he wanted to try it again. He
was determined to reach the United States and join his love.
G : ohhhh It's a romantic story... Sorry ..... continue Vicente. Tell us about his second attempt to enter
the United States.
V : Well, the second attempt was 4 months later. With another COYOTE. This person asked for 8
million for his work. At this time, my mom Lily gave to my uncle the money for the trip. This trip was a
little different, was a fly from Guayaquil to Guadalajara-Mexico with legal documents and then in
Mexico they had to cross the river to Texas.
The trip from Guadalajara to Texas was very difficult. It took about a month, he had to sleep in open
spaces, to pass days without eating, to face humiliation of the Coyotes, etc. He spent a week in
prison in Mexico for documents, but then was released and he could continue their trip. And...When
he finally crossed the border to Texas his girlfriend was waiting for him.
Now, 25 years later, he is married with Monica and have 3 children who are American citizens by
birth. He could take the citizenship test and now he is an American citizen. His wife is still waiting to

legalize their illegal status, she is illegal . Both work and have green card and social security. That's
my story guys...
What about your story Grace, it's your turn. Tell us about our uncle Harry.
G: Well.... once upon a time....
C : What ???? (La miras con cara de Sorprendido)
G: jajajaja.. sorry, I let myself to be carried on by the inspiration... so.. the story of my Uncle Harry
happened when I was 5 years old. My uncle , who is my godfather too, left the country to find a
better life in the United States, but things were not so easy. My uncle told me , that it was very
difficult to get to the United States because he had no passport or visa and as you know, at that time
my uncle Vincent was already an American citizen and then he gave his passport to his brother.
That's how he went to the United States with false names and documents.
C: With False documents or with documents of your other uncle?.. I don't understand...
G : Well the passport was real, but the passport belonged to my uncle Vicente.
C : ahhh.... And... what happened with the photo ? Are they twins ?
G : Not at all. My uncle Vicente has brown skin like me and my uncle Harry is white like Vicente, like
a ghost, pale, without color...
V : That's ok... He understood the idea. ()
G: Well. They do not look alike.
C : And.... so ???
G : Well, my uncle paid to someone who does an excellent job changing the photo in the passport.
But my uncle had to memorize all the information of my other uncle Vicente, such as id number, date
of birth, where he worked in the United States, the address where he lived there, etc. He also paid a
migration police to stamp the passport with the entrance to the Ecuador.
He wanted to pretend as if my uncle Vicente had come to Ecuador. So the plan was that my Uncle
Harry get out of the country with that passport, pretending to be my uncle Vicente and he was
prepared for any questions to go through immigration.
C : And... what happened in the trip?
G : He was nervous, but he had practiced a lot about any kind of questions that they could ask him.
At that time, the immigration department did not compare the fingerprints as now. So entering to the
United States was easy for him.
C: Wow... he was very risky. I would not have dared to do that. And then.... what happened with the
passport. You said that the passport had the photo changed.
G : Well. I'm not sure about that.
V : I know, I know that !!! The passport was destroyed and my uncle Vicente reported it as lost. He
obtained a new passport with the correct photo.

C : And. He had the better life that he was finding ?

G : Not at the beginning. He was unemployed almost two years, he was sad, disappointed, without
job and without money. He could not get their legal documents because his case was complicated.
After two years he finally got a job in a Hotel. Currently he's happy. He met a Colombian woman,
four years ago, who is his wife now. I mean they are in love.
C : Do they have children ?
G : No they don't have children together, but my uncle's wife has three daughters from a past
relationship.
C : Ok ok... you have been speaking enough. It's my turn.
V : Ok Carlos, tell us, your story.
C : Well, the truth...the truth..... in my case I don't know the real story of my uncles who are in the
United States. They traveled when I was a child. They had a tourist visa but once there, they decided
to stay there, because the job opportunities were much better than in Ecuador.
At that time in our country we were at war with Peru, after that came the bank holiday, dollarization,
etc ... So, All those situations made many people take the decision to leave the country in whatever
way possible.
V : So, now... Are your uncles living in the United States ?
C : Yes, they are in the United States, they made their lives in that country ... My uncle Joseph is
married with a Chilean woman and they had two children. He works in a supermarket chain, and he
is boss of staff. His salary is very good.. So I doubt, that he wants to return to his country . He comes
to Ecuador every three years and stays here for a month . The last time he came alone. His wife and
children didn't come with him.... I think, they don't like Ecuador.
G : And your other uncle, what about he ?
C : My other uncle ?... His name is Luis. His story is very similar to my uncle Jose, both traveled with
tourist visa and never returned. I guess, at the beginning, when they were illegal, they had many
problems ... It must be hard to get work being illegal .. But years passed by and they could obtain
citizenship and now they are happy with their jobs and with their families and occasionally they
communicate with us.
G : Luckily your uncles didn't go through many problems on their trips.
C : Sure. They were very lucky to travel with a tourist visa and not suffer so many adventures that
many people suffer trying to achieve the American dream.
V : Well, Thanks Carlos and Grace for your stories.
C : Thanks to you Vicente, and thanks Grace too. It was a nice moment.
G : Yeah, It was nice... thanks to both.
V : We hope you enjoyed the video.

G : ohhh... by the way .. Miss Hypatia, we hope to get a 10... BYE

G : BYE
V : BYE