COMMENTATOR (COMM): Previously on Life...
MUSIC: "Well I went down to the rich man's house and I took back what he stole from me..."
VOXPOP: Clothing manufacture in Pennsylvania has been decimated
JOHN FOX: We're looking for justice, there is no justice
PROFESSOR NOAM CHOMSKY: In today's Globalization, as opposed to a century ago, movement of people is much less free...
CHERI HONKALA: We are not invisible in Philadelphia...
PROFESSOR LESTER THUROW: You're playing with fire...
ROBERT REICH: We are going to see a backlash against globalization...
LUIS (ENGLISH TRANSLATION): My entire life has been like a boxing match. I've always fought for what I wanted, to achieve the dreams I had, I've always had to fight. I've got so many stories to tell, my life is like a novel.
My name is Luis Miguel Rodriguez Juarez. I was born here in Chalcatongo, in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. There's no work for youngsters here, anymore.
The fields are abandoned and only the old folk stay behind. Most of the youngsters go to look for work in Mexico City, and some even go as far as the United States. Only the old people are left here.
And that's how the whole story of my crossing the border illegally began...
Having to put up with so many hardships, to jump through so many hoops that I never thought could be so difficult. It was another world.
LUIS's MOTHER (ENGLISH TRANSLATION): They have grown up now and they want to live their own lives.
And maybe that's why they are going away because they can see that we don't earn enough to meet all their needs.
And perhaps it's because they want to help us as well.
LUIS: My dream has always been to become a world champion boxer in the United States, so that I could help out my family.
My parents work in the country, it's a hard life for them. They're already of an age where they shouldn't be working so hard. By now, it should be us, their children, who provide them for their needs, but, so far we haven't been able to.
LUIS' FATHER (English Translation): I feel just like one of them, because the way they feel now, is exactly how I once felt. I also had to leave my family and my village to improve my prospects, and to get on in life.
LUIS: If my sister carries on working here, she's just going to get stuck in a rut and she is never going to get ahead. She's going to be stuck in a vicious circle.
That's why I said to her, if she really wants to get on... I mean, if she wants to work in the States, she'll get a much better salary.
INTERVIEWER: Lucila, have you made up your mind to go to the States with your brother?
LUCILA RODRIGUEZ (English Translation): Yes - I've made up my mind.
INTERVIEWER: Why?
LUCILA: More than anything it's because I want to see what it's like there, and because I want to know how it feels to be away from my family... and to work more than anything...
Yes I think I'm going to like it there.
LUIS: When we're travelling alone somewhere, we always begin to feel sad, we begin to feel anxious because we are heading out into the unknown, but at the same time, we go with the feeling that we'll return with something more to help those back home. That's what makes it worthwhile.
For me my family is my life, it's what makes me tick.
My plan is to go and box in the United States. That's my goal. To start boxing professionally.
I am heading for the States, and when I get there I'm always going to hold my head high, I'll never hang my head, because I come from a country that the States has exploited - big time!
INTERVIEWER: What is this?
VOXPOP (ENGLISH TRANSLATION): It's a dividing wall. It's a wall that apparently they were going to use in the war against Iraq.
LUIS (ENGLISH TRANSLATION): When I cross into the States, in my eyes, I am not breaking any law or treaty. Because where I'm going to be was a part of Mexico, what was once Mexico or what still is Mexico.
I mean, the States is getting rich on the work that we Mexicans do, thanks to the workers they use in Mexico, because really they get very little in return.
VOXPOP 2 (ENGLISH TRANSLATION): Here in Tijuana everything is so expensive. They pay you the minimum, and really, it's not enough. We're on the bread line. If you've got four kids, it's not enough for food. Nor for clothing, for you or for them. Not even for a roof over your head. Everything costs.
LUIS: As a human being I have my rights. As far as I'm concerned, I am free to come and go in this world, as a human being.
According to my principles, we should be free to experience life's ups and downs anywhere we like in this world.
INTERVIEWER: Did you imagine the border would be like this?
LUCILA RODRIGUEZ: No, I imagined it would be more difficult, but in fact it isn't, it's much easier than I thought.
LUIS RODRIGUEZ: Maybe we won't make it today, maybe not tomorrow... perhaps not even in a week, but we'll keep on trying, and at some point we are bound to get across.
INTERVIEWER: How many times have you crossed so far?
MAN THROUGH GRILL: Twice.
INTERVIEWER: And how many times did they get you?
MAN THROUGH GRILL: Both times...
INTERVIEWER: And what next?
MAN THROUGH GRILL: We're going to cross again, we'll try again.
VOXPOP (escaping man): "I'll see you guys"
LUCILA RODRIGUEZ: If so many people can get across, then why can't I? That's what encourages me, yeah I am ready to give it a go.
IMMIGRATION RADIO TRAFFIC: "Just waiting here to see if there's any more people coming out across that road right there, we'll set traffic and go east now to Campos centre."
"OK now here we come looks like about eight so far crossing on the east side of Campos."
"They're going through the ditch in Spat Hali, 15 feet deep and we're in the centre of it, so we can't see anything, because they know they have infra red scope."
"They run straight north right now, I'll let you know if they veer off."
[Caption: 'San Diego outskirts 8 months later']
MEXICAN WORKER (ENGLISH TRANSLATION): We're waiting for someone to pick us up for work. Anything will do.
AMERICAN WOMAN: I know we need them to work here, we rely on their labour. They're soldiers of fortune. They want a better life, they want it that badly.
LUIS RODRIGUEZ: I've been eight months without working. I've had a few jobs that lasted two or three days, but they've been rare. It's the fact that I don't have legal status here, that makes it so difficult.
AMERICAN MAN: A lot of the Americans don't want to do the jobs that these people are doing. I think, you know, that people don't ask any questions as long as the job gets done by these people.
LUCILA RODRIGUEZ: I thought it would be different.... Yes I thought I'd be in a poor district and on the outskirts, but not as bad as this. No, I don't like it.
It's difficult to go out, specially without the right documents. If we do we have to be careful the immigration people don't catch us, and send us back... and then we'd have to get across again. So that's a worry, but for now the biggest problem is: I don't have a job.
LUIS RODRIGUEZ: Right now I am preparing the main tool of the trade that I am going to dedicate myself to - boxing. I think it's going to open doors for me. I got the opportunity to work with a trainer called Mike Adame, and he is going to help me on the road to success.
MIKE ADAME: Well obviously I've been around boxing for a long time, and I think he's got an excellent chance. He's very dedicated and he's at the age where he's got to make a choice either box amateur or box pro. He wants to make some money and he's a very disciplined person. If he goes along with the things I say, so I'm going sign him up.
PART 2
[Caption : 5 Years Later]
VOXPOP: "Two Bloody Mary's"
LUIS RODRIGUEZ: My new job is completely different from what I was doing five years ago when I only had odd jobs and was living in the camp. The company that I am working for now, a huge company, has no idea that from this place I am working here illegally. Yeah, it's a bit frightening for me, but I just have to grin and bear it. Just as I would any other difficulty in life.
[Caption: LOS ANGELES]
I think I did have a real chance of becoming a champion. Yes, it's actually very difficult to turn your back on such an opportunity. To close the door behind yourself, turn around and walk away. But the dream still lives on, just like before, it's just that now it won't be sport I'm using.
My dream is to get my parents, who are now quite old, over here to the United States, and we are going to look after them we're going to see to all their needs. To provide them with a life where they don't have to scrape a living from day to day.
LUCILA RODRIGUEZ: Within two months of arriving in L.A. I got engaged. My plan had been come and work, earn some money, save as much as possible and send it back to Mexico to help out with the family back there. I got married, got pregnant and had to stop working. I came here to get ahead, but actually, if I am worse off, then it's better that I should leave and go back home. Perhaps I could do better than I am doing now.
The rest of my family in the States, is in San Diego. My sisters are married, they have children to look after. At times I get bored because I don't have friends I feel comfortable going out with, people I can chat to and confide in. So I feel alone, I begin to despair and I feel like going home. I think I'd feel more loved and happier back home with my parents who I love as well.
[Caption: San Diego]
LUIS RODRIGUEZ: Here we are at home. It's a one bedroom flat and I'm living here with my three brothers. We've been living here for about three years. The next thing is to get my parents over here to the States - I'm hoping the government will let them have a visa, so that they can come here legally. I'm going to call and see how things are going back home.
LUIS RODRIGUEZ (On telephone): (ENGLISH TRANSLATION): Hi Sara, it's your brother here. how are you?
That's good... yes, we're fine.
I was trying to speak to her and encourage her to come...
You know why? Ever since I've been in the States I've always dreamed of getting us all together again - those of us who remain... Because, despite the fact that our big rother isn't with us any more, the rest of us who are still alive should be re-united again... That's always been my dream...
LUIS'S MOTHER: Yes, they are all there... all of them, from the eldest to the youngest.
LUIS'S FATHER: We'd like to see them, but it's a bit difficult because they are in another country, of course.
To go over there we have to go through all kinds of red tape from one country or the other so that we can cross the border_And that's what we don't really know how to do. We're the kind of people who live from the fruits of our own labours. We're not the kind of people politicians really think of...
LUIS's MOTHER: Well, we're going to the American Embassy in Mexico City.
Nothing, there's nothing more we can do. Now that we've tried, there's nothing left to be done, other than to carry on and stay in touch just as we've always done...
CAPTION:
"Luis Rodriguez is still fighting to fulfil his dreams...
There are over 2.5 million Mexicans living illegally in the United States"
END
MUSIC: "Well I went down to the rich man's house and I took back what he stole from me..."
VOXPOP: Clothing manufacture in Pennsylvania has been decimated
JOHN FOX: We're looking for justice, there is no justice
PROFESSOR NOAM CHOMSKY: In today's Globalization, as opposed to a century ago, movement of people is much less free...
CHERI HONKALA: We are not invisible in Philadelphia...
PROFESSOR LESTER THUROW: You're playing with fire...
ROBERT REICH: We are going to see a backlash against globalization...
LUIS (ENGLISH TRANSLATION): My entire life has been like a boxing match. I've always fought for what I wanted, to achieve the dreams I had, I've always had to fight. I've got so many stories to tell, my life is like a novel.
My name is Luis Miguel Rodriguez Juarez. I was born here in Chalcatongo, in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. There's no work for youngsters here, anymore.
The fields are abandoned and only the old folk stay behind. Most of the youngsters go to look for work in Mexico City, and some even go as far as the United States. Only the old people are left here.
And that's how the whole story of my crossing the border illegally began...
Having to put up with so many hardships, to jump through so many hoops that I never thought could be so difficult. It was another world.
LUIS's MOTHER (ENGLISH TRANSLATION): They have grown up now and they want to live their own lives.
And maybe that's why they are going away because they can see that we don't earn enough to meet all their needs.
And perhaps it's because they want to help us as well.
LUIS: My dream has always been to become a world champion boxer in the United States, so that I could help out my family.
My parents work in the country, it's a hard life for them. They're already of an age where they shouldn't be working so hard. By now, it should be us, their children, who provide them for their needs, but, so far we haven't been able to.
LUIS' FATHER (English Translation): I feel just like one of them, because the way they feel now, is exactly how I once felt. I also had to leave my family and my village to improve my prospects, and to get on in life.
LUIS: If my sister carries on working here, she's just going to get stuck in a rut and she is never going to get ahead. She's going to be stuck in a vicious circle.
That's why I said to her, if she really wants to get on... I mean, if she wants to work in the States, she'll get a much better salary.
INTERVIEWER: Lucila, have you made up your mind to go to the States with your brother?
LUCILA RODRIGUEZ (English Translation): Yes - I've made up my mind.
INTERVIEWER: Why?
LUCILA: More than anything it's because I want to see what it's like there, and because I want to know how it feels to be away from my family... and to work more than anything...
Yes I think I'm going to like it there.
LUIS: When we're travelling alone somewhere, we always begin to feel sad, we begin to feel anxious because we are heading out into the unknown, but at the same time, we go with the feeling that we'll return with something more to help those back home. That's what makes it worthwhile.
For me my family is my life, it's what makes me tick.
My plan is to go and box in the United States. That's my goal. To start boxing professionally.
I am heading for the States, and when I get there I'm always going to hold my head high, I'll never hang my head, because I come from a country that the States has exploited - big time!
INTERVIEWER: What is this?
VOXPOP (ENGLISH TRANSLATION): It's a dividing wall. It's a wall that apparently they were going to use in the war against Iraq.
LUIS (ENGLISH TRANSLATION): When I cross into the States, in my eyes, I am not breaking any law or treaty. Because where I'm going to be was a part of Mexico, what was once Mexico or what still is Mexico.
I mean, the States is getting rich on the work that we Mexicans do, thanks to the workers they use in Mexico, because really they get very little in return.
VOXPOP 2 (ENGLISH TRANSLATION): Here in Tijuana everything is so expensive. They pay you the minimum, and really, it's not enough. We're on the bread line. If you've got four kids, it's not enough for food. Nor for clothing, for you or for them. Not even for a roof over your head. Everything costs.
LUIS: As a human being I have my rights. As far as I'm concerned, I am free to come and go in this world, as a human being.
According to my principles, we should be free to experience life's ups and downs anywhere we like in this world.
INTERVIEWER: Did you imagine the border would be like this?
LUCILA RODRIGUEZ: No, I imagined it would be more difficult, but in fact it isn't, it's much easier than I thought.
LUIS RODRIGUEZ: Maybe we won't make it today, maybe not tomorrow... perhaps not even in a week, but we'll keep on trying, and at some point we are bound to get across.
INTERVIEWER: How many times have you crossed so far?
MAN THROUGH GRILL: Twice.
INTERVIEWER: And how many times did they get you?
MAN THROUGH GRILL: Both times...
INTERVIEWER: And what next?
MAN THROUGH GRILL: We're going to cross again, we'll try again.
VOXPOP (escaping man): "I'll see you guys"
LUCILA RODRIGUEZ: If so many people can get across, then why can't I? That's what encourages me, yeah I am ready to give it a go.
IMMIGRATION RADIO TRAFFIC: "Just waiting here to see if there's any more people coming out across that road right there, we'll set traffic and go east now to Campos centre."
"OK now here we come looks like about eight so far crossing on the east side of Campos."
"They're going through the ditch in Spat Hali, 15 feet deep and we're in the centre of it, so we can't see anything, because they know they have infra red scope."
"They run straight north right now, I'll let you know if they veer off."
[Caption: 'San Diego outskirts 8 months later']
MEXICAN WORKER (ENGLISH TRANSLATION): We're waiting for someone to pick us up for work. Anything will do.
AMERICAN WOMAN: I know we need them to work here, we rely on their labour. They're soldiers of fortune. They want a better life, they want it that badly.
LUIS RODRIGUEZ: I've been eight months without working. I've had a few jobs that lasted two or three days, but they've been rare. It's the fact that I don't have legal status here, that makes it so difficult.
AMERICAN MAN: A lot of the Americans don't want to do the jobs that these people are doing. I think, you know, that people don't ask any questions as long as the job gets done by these people.
LUCILA RODRIGUEZ: I thought it would be different.... Yes I thought I'd be in a poor district and on the outskirts, but not as bad as this. No, I don't like it.
It's difficult to go out, specially without the right documents. If we do we have to be careful the immigration people don't catch us, and send us back... and then we'd have to get across again. So that's a worry, but for now the biggest problem is: I don't have a job.
LUIS RODRIGUEZ: Right now I am preparing the main tool of the trade that I am going to dedicate myself to - boxing. I think it's going to open doors for me. I got the opportunity to work with a trainer called Mike Adame, and he is going to help me on the road to success.
MIKE ADAME: Well obviously I've been around boxing for a long time, and I think he's got an excellent chance. He's very dedicated and he's at the age where he's got to make a choice either box amateur or box pro. He wants to make some money and he's a very disciplined person. If he goes along with the things I say, so I'm going sign him up.
PART 2
[Caption : 5 Years Later]
VOXPOP: "Two Bloody Mary's"
LUIS RODRIGUEZ: My new job is completely different from what I was doing five years ago when I only had odd jobs and was living in the camp. The company that I am working for now, a huge company, has no idea that from this place I am working here illegally. Yeah, it's a bit frightening for me, but I just have to grin and bear it. Just as I would any other difficulty in life.
[Caption: LOS ANGELES]
I think I did have a real chance of becoming a champion. Yes, it's actually very difficult to turn your back on such an opportunity. To close the door behind yourself, turn around and walk away. But the dream still lives on, just like before, it's just that now it won't be sport I'm using.
My dream is to get my parents, who are now quite old, over here to the United States, and we are going to look after them we're going to see to all their needs. To provide them with a life where they don't have to scrape a living from day to day.
LUCILA RODRIGUEZ: Within two months of arriving in L.A. I got engaged. My plan had been come and work, earn some money, save as much as possible and send it back to Mexico to help out with the family back there. I got married, got pregnant and had to stop working. I came here to get ahead, but actually, if I am worse off, then it's better that I should leave and go back home. Perhaps I could do better than I am doing now.
The rest of my family in the States, is in San Diego. My sisters are married, they have children to look after. At times I get bored because I don't have friends I feel comfortable going out with, people I can chat to and confide in. So I feel alone, I begin to despair and I feel like going home. I think I'd feel more loved and happier back home with my parents who I love as well.
[Caption: San Diego]
LUIS RODRIGUEZ: Here we are at home. It's a one bedroom flat and I'm living here with my three brothers. We've been living here for about three years. The next thing is to get my parents over here to the States - I'm hoping the government will let them have a visa, so that they can come here legally. I'm going to call and see how things are going back home.
LUIS RODRIGUEZ (On telephone): (ENGLISH TRANSLATION): Hi Sara, it's your brother here. how are you?
That's good... yes, we're fine.
I was trying to speak to her and encourage her to come...
You know why? Ever since I've been in the States I've always dreamed of getting us all together again - those of us who remain... Because, despite the fact that our big rother isn't with us any more, the rest of us who are still alive should be re-united again... That's always been my dream...
LUIS'S MOTHER: Yes, they are all there... all of them, from the eldest to the youngest.
LUIS'S FATHER: We'd like to see them, but it's a bit difficult because they are in another country, of course.
To go over there we have to go through all kinds of red tape from one country or the other so that we can cross the border_And that's what we don't really know how to do. We're the kind of people who live from the fruits of our own labours. We're not the kind of people politicians really think of...
LUIS's MOTHER: Well, we're going to the American Embassy in Mexico City.
Nothing, there's nothing more we can do. Now that we've tried, there's nothing left to be done, other than to carry on and stay in touch just as we've always done...
CAPTION:
"Luis Rodriguez is still fighting to fulfil his dreams...
There are over 2.5 million Mexicans living illegally in the United States"
END