Mexico Interview

In the Name of Family Javier Santiago seemed reluctant at the beginning of the interview. It was troubling to see him constantly rubbing his wrinkled face, fixing his watch, and shifting his short stature on the comfortable sofa. Plus, his primary instinct to care for his sick wife did not allow him to fully immerse himself into the essence of the questions at the beginning of the session. I noticed that every few seconds he would glance at my grandmother as if she were to abruptly walk out of the living room. “¿Y para qué es esto mija?” [What is this for?] he asked me as he adjusted the collar of his white, tucked in shirt. It was as if a part of him wished to be somewhere else; perhaps my 81-year-old grandfather wished he were sleeping
Just like his well-dressed appearance, nothing seemed to fall out of place. The one thing he did seem to emphasize was his imperative need to provide for his wife and children in Oaxaca, Mexico. His inability to learn English and his perseverance in every job he acquired were all made with the motivation to send remittance money back home. It was his duty as a father and husband. Through the experiences of my grandfather we can explicitly see that family and money were, and still are, prime motivators for Latinos to migrate to the United States because they believe the remittance money sent back home will have a positive impact; this in return could leave Latinos vulnerable to prejudice and inequality regimes in the labor institution because their demanding need to care for family forces them to acquiesce with any governmental or formal demand asked of them even if it may be unjust. The new economic theory of migration states that people choose to migrate because of labor market failures in their native home and because of a mandatory need to provide for their family and community. This is simply because affluent jobs in Latino countries are often scarce and many are forced to migrate into “first-world countries” so they could have a chance at the American Dream since their native home lacks essential resources they
“Unas señoras le dijeron a la cajera que por que no hablábamos ingles si estábamos trabajando aquí [en los Estados Unidos]. Nos dijo que teníamos que hablar ingles. Pero ni encuenta la tomamos,” [Some ladies told the cashier why we did not speak English if we worked here [in the United States]. They told us that we had to speak English. But we did not pay them any attention]. I asked him how this encounter made him feel.
“Pues mal porque dije…estamos aquí años trabajando y no se ingles y no era porque no quería sino porque no tenia tiempo. Lo único que si me sabia era lo que estaba en la marqueta, de que me traigas esto o tráeme del otro pero ya pa’ conversar no podía. Las señoras vieron que alguien estaba hablando español y por eso se molestaron. Tal vez fue porque en sus pensamientos tenían la mentalidad que uno viene para aquí pero ni toman el tiempo para poder hablar el lenguaje en donde trabajan. Pero como podíamos si no teníamos tiempo. No veníamos aquí como turistas no para disfrutar si no para el trabajo.” [Well bad, because I said to myself, I have been working here for years and I do not know English and it was not because I did not want to learn it but because I did not have the time. The only thing that I knew was what was on spoken in the store. Stuff like ‘can you bring me this or bring me that’ but to converse