“I've reached the point where I'm willing to risk it all for myself and my family,” Jesus said.

Maria and Jesus left Guadalajara Jalisco a day after Jesus’s birthday. For a better life. With them came along Jesus’s older brother, older sister and 10 random walkers. Maria was the youngest on this journey.  They started their journey heading to San Luis Rio Colorado it took them about 24 hours to get there. They stayed  in a hotel where they spent the whole night. The next night they got picked up by a taxi to go meet up with a coyote.  

The coyote came across a very long fence that was impossible to climb without getting hurt. Tangled in barbed wire but the coyote had a better idea to cross it. He made a hole under the very long spiky fence so that the walkers can cross. 

They kept on walking and came across a water canal used to water plants. The water canal was really long and only 12 feet wide. Water went up to their waist.

When they finished crossing the 12 feet wide canal immigration caught up to them and multiple border patrol were pointing at the walkers with guns saying “stop running”. 

Some people went back to Mexico but Maria and Jesus had no other choice but to cross the canal with border patrol pointing at them with guns watching their every step.

  Immigration took them to the immigration point/immigration station. They left them there drenched in water and left them outside to rest on the cold concrete floor like wet dogs. The resting place looked like a “big dog house” according to Jesus. 

The Border Patrol would make fun of the immigrants, laugh at them and humiliate them. Jesus’s older brother that came along on this journey understood everything they were saying but did not do anything because of the fear of the border patrol doing something. Something unspeakable.

Border patrol started asking Maria and Jesus where they were from as well as to why they were making this journey, taking their fingerprints very vigorously. 

Soon after Jesus and Maria got separated. Boys on one side and the girls on the other. Jesus would say that “toilets were filled up to the rim with all the numbers that exist”. 

They took Maria who was 15 at the time to a really small bathroom in which hundreds of girls of all ages shared. 12 underage girls including Maria then got taken in a truck. That was special to transport immigrants. 

Jesus yelled at Maria “don't get inside the truck” but Maria couldn't do anything. From there they took Maria to the Dif (The National System for Integral Family Development). 

Jesus went to look for Maria.  If you wanted to pick someone up that was underage in custody of the Dif you either had to be a family member that was over 18. 

Jesus had just turned 18 but was not related to Maria. The only family member that was close was Maria’s godmother but lived in Tijuana she was close but far away.  

Jesus went on the hunt for someone who had the same last name as Maria to trick the border patrol. Jesus found a lady there who had the same last name as Maria but the lady did not have her ID on her. Jesus and this miracle lady went to her house to get her ID. The drive was fast. The lady then faked to be her cousin and then Maria’s mom faxed a letter saying that Maria could go and stay with the lady. The plan worked.

After they let Maria go they started their journey once more.  They Headed to the sentral to make phone calls in Ciudad Juarez to meet a coyote. From there they stayed for 3 days in a hotel. 

At that time women were not allowed to go out, they were allowed but it wasn't guaranteed that they would come back. It was really dangerous  for women so only Jesus and his older brother would go get food.  For 3 long day’s Maria did not see sunlight because Jesus keeped her far away from danger. 

They got a bus that took them to the point in where they were going to cross. From their walk to Rio Bravo, the real border because it's so dangerous. 

The Mexican military with guns asked the coyote for money for every walker. The Mexican military let the walkers cross. 

 One of the coyotes crossed a rope from side to side so that the people could cross over, holding onto the rope pulling themselves. The coyote had told them that this was just a one time thing because if they were to let go they were not going to go look for them.

 It's very dangerous because of the strong currents they were not so visible which made it very difficult with every pull. The currants are capable of trapping you and pining you underwater.

 After that obstacle they walked through a walnut field with muddy paths. It was like walking through quicksand pulling you in on every step. 

They walked 4 hours and no immigration to be seen they crossed a street and waited for their ride.

The “BIG'' coyote picked up the walkers and took the men and women and separated them.  The women were taken to the coyote'shouse. The coyote had a family and treated the walkers with kindness. They took the men to a mobile home in Texas. They stayed there for about 3 days. 

There they took some of the walkers to a gas station in where a coyote in a trailer was waiting to take them to LA.  

They were inside the cabin and hid there until it was clear. Jesus’s 3 older brothers were waiting for Jesus and Maria in LA with clean clothes. They came to Sacramento because that's where his older brothers lived. 

Maria took a pregnancy test,  I was born months later.