By the Time I Get to Arizona

I have never been to the Grand Canyon. I planned to go last year with my kids right after the cruise for the first time but that obviously ended up not panning out. That wasn't the first time I had been denied the opportunity to check out the only reason people should go to Arizona. I believe it was 1987 the first and only time my family tried to go to see it. My dad was big on vacations if it wasn't Lake Tahoe or checking out the Mormons in Utah, it was San Francisco, Las Vegas, or even just Disneyland. The man also loved himself some camping. So anyways we head out one summer evening after he gets off work. Since it got dark we decided to stop just short of the State line and spend the night at some desert campsite. The next morning we wake up and attempt to head on into Arizona. Up ahead there is a border checkpoint. I think nothing of it, having never really questioned the parent's legal status. All I really knew is that they couldn't go back to Mexico after they had surrendered their mexican passports. Danny and I used to go to TJ all the time as little kids to hang out with my grandma and cousins. I just knew our grandma would always have to come pick us up in San Diego and take us into TJ. Again never had really questioned it.

We get to the Border agent who to me at the time looked like Dirty Harry- complete with mirrored aviators. We are in a truck with a camper shell and Danny and me are in the back. I casually look over into the cab of the truck to see whats going on. My dad had this letter supposed from the government that stated Him and my mom could stay in the US. Never really read it but that was my understanding. It seemed to have worked on other vacations. Not this time. An argument ensues and not only can we not just turn around to go home, we end up getting deported. Danny and I mind you were both born here. Getting deported was something that wasn't supposed to happen to us. Now I understand they were techinically only deporting my parents. We were just a side note. But still, during my teenage and young drinking years I would get really upset when I thought of this story. Its why to this day I hate border check points that are within the US and am a dick to them (ok I'm a dick to everybody but even more so to them if they actually stop me to ask me a question- I once came really really close to replying to their are you an American Citizen with "yeah are you? and do you have any fuckin clue who Henry Clay was?" anyways, I digress...

So there we were being escorted by the border agents into Mexico. an agent truck in front of us and another behind us, leading us back to the border line. Once in Mexico the federal agents there advise my dad that they are impounding the truck for some reason and they are demanding some ridiculous amount of money. I mean it gets to the point that Danny and me are about to have to get out of the truck. We were about to get stuck in Mexico without a vehicle or any personal belongings. Moms and Dad are obviously very very upset. A semi decent mexican agent begins speaking with my dad and starts to tell him what he needed to say and do in order to avoid losing the truck. My dad had already tried telling the agent in charge he would give him all the money he had and whatever else was of value on his person. But that hadnt seemed to work. I'm not sure how this agent explained to my dad what to say, but about an hour later, my dad no longer so upset just comes back and says we get to keep the truck...

We are now traveling back west in Mexico trying to head home- The problem is of course how my parents are gonna get back across. In Tecate, we even tried doing a little coaching session on how to say "American Citizen" without an accent. We roll up to the agent and we all said "American Citizen"
his reply to my parents?
" Ok, can I see your papers?"
My dad trying to act angry,
"What you don't believe us or my kids!"
" Oh I believe them-I just don't believe you."
So that attempt was a fail. My dad then calls Don Javier and asks if he could at least pick Danny and Me up while they try to find a way back into the U.S. After getting yelled at for still being on American soil- the pay phone was on the US side of the border- we head back into Tecate for a little bit to wait for Don Javier.

On the way back into San Diego and towards Don Javier's house, I am wondering when I will see my parents again. As a little kid these situations tend to become exaggerated and I was thinking if they would ever be back, if Danny and me would have to fend for ourselves like the orphans seen on TV... amusing thoughts now. I didn't have to worry for too long. The very next morning both my parents are being dropped off in front of Don Javier's house.

A few years ago I brought this episode up to my dad and asked how the hell they got back so quickly. turns out He knew someone who was a coyote and he had given my parents a deal. He did mention the experience of having to get smuggled back into the country was one of the most humilating feelings. My parents had been living in the US since 1973. Almost 15 yrs of working, paying taxes, and just trying to improve their lives. Yeah yeah thats what most of them say, I know. Anyways my parents got a lawyer and within a year they were temporary resident aliens. The first day my dad was re granted permission to be able to go backand forth from Mexico, he took danny and me to our grandma's. He wanted to play a joke and had us bring clothes in a bag and that we were showing up on our own because we had ran away from home. I still remember how happy he was when we were crossing back into the US and he didnt have to hide his accent or be smuggled back across- just showed them his green card and drove through. Years later he finally became an official U.S. citizen and I know if I am anything like him, the first time he got to cross back into the border by just saying he was an American citizen would have been really vindicating for him. If the agent would have responded by stating he didn't believe him, I know he would have just laughed and made the agent feel like an asshole when he proved he indeed was.

I will one day finally make it to the Grand Canyon, I am just gonna make it a point to make sure my kids are with me the first time I see it though. My Dad never ended up making it to the Grand Canyon or even bothering to go back to Arizona. In seeing all the bullshit that state does I don't blame him. But honestly whether he was wronged that day or not doesn't really matter anymore, everything ended up working out because of this episode. My mom is also now a US citizen and he got to go home to Tabasco a couple of more times.