Fronteras Desk/PRI’s The World, News Feature, Jude Joffe-Block
TEPEAPULCO, Mexico — It’s a typical Sunday in the town of Tepeapulco, in Mexico’s central highlands. Families gather, cook and catch up.
And that’s the scene at Santiago Domínguez’s home. At 82-years-old, he’s the family patriarch. He’s wearing pressed slacks, his dark hair smoothed back. By lunchtime, he’s surrounded by relatives.
But one person’s always missing: Rosa, Domínguez’s daughter. In the living room, there’s a picture of her as a young woman.
“I thought she’d only be gone three or four years—and then come back,” Domínguez said in Spanish.
But it’s been 18 years since Rosa left for Arizona with her two young sons. They went illegally to join the boys’ father there. She’s now 43 and has never returned to Mexico. Without papers, it’s just too risky.
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