Jaime and Me

Jaìme  first walked across el Rio Bravo de Norte from Mexico into Texas in 1998. He waded the river during the dry season and paid a coyote to drive him the 300-plus miles from the border to Deep East Texas, in the back of a truck with a dozen or so other men. Jaìme  is what, in a less politically correct time, was called a wetback. Now people like Jaìme  are called undocumented workers. I call him my compadre. Loosely translated, that means he is my pal. Not my amigo; that would presume too much on my part. Jaìme  calls me his patròn, though I’m but one of several Anglo men who contract...

Read more...