Crossing the Valley Migrant Interivew

Raul Ventura

I was inclined to interview my boyfriend’s dad, who first immigrated here illegally from San Salvador, El Salvador, but who has since become a legal US citizen. Raul Ventura, the migrant is very successful and definitely has a story to tell about his journey here to a new world. I interviewed Mr. Ventura at his house over a cup of coffee. The interview took over an hour, but that hour went by really fast.  In this paper, I will report the interview from the migrant's point of view to help make his story more powerful.

It is not a simple process for those individuals in other countries immigrating to the United States. Millions immigrate to America but many millions more are denied a visa or forced to cross the border illegally because of the limited number of applicants that the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, now a department of Homeland Security, provides as well as the extremely stringent process that is imposed upon migrating applicants. Even getting a simple tourist visa can be a tiring ordeal and beyond reach of most foreign citizens who are not wealthy. This results in numbers of people who are forced to look for other means such as resorting to coyotes, people who smuggle people into America, or corporate coyotes. In the last decade the attitude towards migration, especially in the Southwest, has worsened as many Americans blame illegal immigrants for causing economic hardships and fear diversification to American culture.

I thought it would be an interesting idea to enlighten and inform people about myself a Salvadorian immigrant male and my process of immigrating to the U.S. as well as the challenges I had to overcome. My name is Raul Ventura, I am 49 years-old, immigrated to the United States in 1978 thirty- one years ago from San Salvador, El Salvador. I overcame many struggles and experiences, as I journeyed to a place where I became an alien and now that place is what I call home.

During the 1970s the people of El Salvador suffered landlessness, poverty and high unemployment. In 1979 the reformist Revolutionary Government Junta took power. There was increased political violence that quickly turned into a civil war in 1979. The initially poorly trained Salvadoran Armed Forces also engaged in repression and indiscriminate killings, the most notorious of which was the El Mozote massacre in December 1981. The war was the reason my mother wanted me and my high school friends, to migrate over to the United States. I didn't want to be a part of the war nor risk my life for fighting over corrupt politics. Escaping was not easy to accomplish. Many of my high school friends who were caught trying to escape, consequently, taken to prisons, tortured, and most of them were killed. My mother was terrified of the insurgents and prayed that nothing would happen to me, I was 18 years old at the time. I had to flee, ultimately reaching Texas in the United States via Mexico.

San Salvador is the cultural and cosmopolitan heart of the country. The declining economy during the war sparked internal migration from the countryside to the city, mostly by poor families and laborers. Though San Salvador produces nearly 65% of the national GDP, unemployment is high and people do whatever they can to get by. Vendors of all ages play the streets and major intersections, selling everything from candy to cell-phone chargers. On buses, vitamins and other supplements are sold with special vigor and creativity.

 When I reached Texas, my cousin who had arrived a year or so before picked me up to my new home. I was so afraid of everything in this new world for me. I felt so strange and lost in a place I knew nothing about, a place where I had heard stories of Americans who lived extraordinary lives. I didn't know how to work the stove, and when trying to boil water, the kettle's whistle scared almost scared me to death.

Things were odd and weird in America and I didn't want to go anywhere or touch anything. My process of learning and adjusting to new surroundings was slow, but I received a lot of help from my cousin. I went to a church that offered English classes. I needed to learn English in order to survive here. After three years in school, I had learned only a small amount of basic English and tried to apply for a job. I became a janitor at a motel where I worked for three years. Soon after, I became jobless and moved to Phoenix, AZ with my cousin. My lack of English and work skills made it a very hard time looking for a job. For the meantime, I acquired some work here and there just to make ends meet for myself, now with two of my sisters who came here from El Salvador. In 1985, I finally found a stable job as a warehouse factory worker. My biggest conflict and challenge to adjust to America was my lack of English speaking skills. It was the main reason that held me back and made the process of assimilation extremely difficult.

Myself and many other immigrants, endured so many struggles and faced numerous obstacles, however, I would rather be here than anywhere else. America has given me a chance to make my own decision and choices, to allow my children to live in a country where they can be what they want to be and to live a free life. I have three sons’ now and wouldn't want them to live the life I had, in a place where I was destined to be farmers working hard in the fields from dusk to dawn just to survive, with no hope to ever be successful. But of course, the challenges American brought me was enormous. There weren't only the challenges of adjusting, learning new things, and assimilating. There was the big challenge to hold on to my families traditions, culture, and religion. Although I predict that the culture of Salvadorians would soon die because the younger generations are becoming Americanized and have their own priorities. I believe that the Salvadorian culture and identity will diminish as the years go by. It is very sad, that is the way things will turn out when you live in America and practice American ways.

In 1986, I was granted amnesty and became a citizen of the United States of America. I past all the requirements to gain amnesty and started working for a construction company legally for the first time. I am fortunate to have come a long way, but I have only been back to my native country three times. I lost contact with my family in El Salvador and began to live a new one here in the United States. Ultimately, I live a happy and productive life here in the US and it was all worth it. I cherish so much than before and have the opportunity to raise my children in a safe and prosperous country. 

Ann Fadiman’s, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, when someone asking a Hmong a question, it is likely that the answer will include information about their ancestors. The Hmong provides several lessons to anyone who deals with them: they do not like to take orders; do not like to lose; rather flee, fight, or die than surrender; not intimidated by being outnumbered; rarely persuaded that the customs of other cultures are superior; and are capable of getting very angry; this concept also relates to a Salvadorian person.

Miriam Davidson’s, Lives on the Line, examines the hardships people have to go through in order to make a living. Davidson examines the maquiladoras’ impact on the city of Nogales. The daily pay rate with bonuses included from the maquiladoras for an individual averages from seven to eight dollars. At that rate compared to the cost of living at a local grocery store is incomprehensible. This is similar to Salvadorians in San Salvador; we have extreme difficulties with the cost of living as well. In San Salvador, the average worker barley makes enough money to feed their family. Unfortunately, Salvadorians’ do not make enough to cover their cost of living.

Cathy A. Small’s, Voyages, explains the Tongans’ characteristics of migration. Tongan’s decision to migrate is made by their household when cash flow is low. Normally the eldest son after finishing high school would migrate oversea; also the son may have his own reasons for wanting to migrate, not just for his family.”The promise of America to Tongan migrants are those who go overseas are big and those go to America are biggest,” according to a Tongan man that Small interviewed. This one point reminds me of Mr. Ventura migrating to America. Ventura is the eldest son and the first to migrate from his family for a better way of life.

David A. McMurray’s, In and Out of Morocco, describes the effects of migration, smuggling, and the re-figuring of gender identities in Nador. Male migrants maintain authority through remittances sent home. Most Salvadorians’ who migrated back in the 1980’s were mostly males, such as Raul Ventura. Mr. Ventura maintained his authority back home via remittances.

Jeffrey H. Cohen’s, The Culture of Migration in Southern Mexico, examines the Oaxaca’s’ migration, which is embedded in a series of social and cultural patterns. They migrate to support children, siblings, and parents. They risk their health and their lives for the good of their families and households. Salvadorians risk so much when they migrate for the good of their families. Their remittances also carry costs for households and communities.