Two Tales of Unaccompanied Minor Migration
Dr. Isabel Martinez's Story:
In the summer of 2000, Dr. Martinez’s uncle, Felipe Salazar II, would complete and unveil a history of the Martinez family that identified her grandmother as an unauthorized unaccompanied minor. Married at age thirteen, by age sixteen, Josefa Cermeno Castro would find herself escaping the Mexican Revolution and seeking refuge in a place where there were “people like here (in Mexico), but there isn’t a revolution.” Accompanied by her young husband, her baby daughter, her eleven year old brother and family friends, her grandmother would travel over two months in a carreta or ox-pulled cart, finally arriving exhausted to the southern bank of the Mexico-Texas border in January 1919. To cross, they would have to ride a hand-pulled ferry across the river from Mexico into Texas. The crossing fee was three
cents per adult if none of the adults helped pull the ferry across by rope, two cents if they did help. All in all, they would pay a total of five cents to cross.
Dr. Martinez’s grandmother would circumvent not one, but two immigration laws
to enter. Although the Immigration Act of 1907 required all immigrants arriving
into the US to enter through an official port of entry, submit themselves to inspection, receive official authorization to enter the United States and pay a head
tax and the Immigration Act of 1917 would require entrants over the age of sixteen
to prove literacy and pay a higher head tax, Dr. Martinez’s grandmother who had never attended school a day in her life crossed instead to the northern bank of the Rio Grande River, near Peñitas, Texas fulfilling none of these mandates. In this town that had been settled nearly 400 years earlier by a splinter group of survivors of a Spanish expedition---a priest, five military officers, and their slaves, Dr. Martinez’s grandparents encountered a campsite with other families who had crossed in the days and weeks before them who were also escaping Mexico’s violence and were in search of better lives.
Nearly one hundred years later, the courageous migration of Dr. Martinez's grandmother inspires both her research and the Unaccompanied Latin American Minor Project.
In the summer of 2000, Dr. Martinez’s uncle, Felipe Salazar II, would complete and unveil a history of the Martinez family that identified her grandmother as an unauthorized unaccompanied minor. Married at age thirteen, by age sixteen, Josefa Cermeno Castro would find herself escaping the Mexican Revolution and seeking refuge in a place where there were “people like here (in Mexico), but there isn’t a revolution.” Accompanied by her young husband, her baby daughter, her eleven year old brother and family friends, her grandmother would travel over two months in a carreta or ox-pulled cart, finally arriving exhausted to the southern bank of the Mexico-Texas border in January 1919. To cross, they would have to ride a hand-pulled ferry across the river from Mexico into Texas. The crossing fee was three
cents per adult if none of the adults helped pull the ferry across by rope, two cents if they did help. All in all, they would pay a total of five cents to cross.
Dr. Martinez’s grandmother would circumvent not one, but two immigration laws
to enter. Although the Immigration Act of 1907 required all immigrants arriving
into the US to enter through an official port of entry, submit themselves to inspection, receive official authorization to enter the United States and pay a head
tax and the Immigration Act of 1917 would require entrants over the age of sixteen
to prove literacy and pay a higher head tax, Dr. Martinez’s grandmother who had never attended school a day in her life crossed instead to the northern bank of the Rio Grande River, near Peñitas, Texas fulfilling none of these mandates. In this town that had been settled nearly 400 years earlier by a splinter group of survivors of a Spanish expedition---a priest, five military officers, and their slaves, Dr. Martinez’s grandparents encountered a campsite with other families who had crossed in the days and weeks before them who were also escaping Mexico’s violence and were in search of better lives.
Nearly one hundred years later, the courageous migration of Dr. Martinez's grandmother inspires both her research and the Unaccompanied Latin American Minor Project.
Professor Lenni Benson's Story:
Likewise, Professor Benson’s grandmother was an unaccompanied minor. Arriving at New York City’s Ellis Island, her grandmother, born in Sporova, Russia (now known as Belarus) would arrive to Ellis Island at the age of nine with her eleven year old brother. Sent by their father, the young children were to join their eldest sister who was now twenty-years old. They were sent for two reasons: to avoid a scarlet fever epidemic, but also in fear of falling victims to a pogrom, or the massacre of Jews that was occurring in the youths’ native region. Sent on a steamship under the guise of being accompanied by a man who had been hired by their real parents to act as their “father,” once the “family” arrived to Ellis Island, the ruse was detected and the children were separated from this adult male. Once at Ellis Island, however, they were able to get into contact with their eldest sister who would then claim the children as her charges. Although the minors were not released to her due to the Inspector’s belief that she and her husband could not care for the children, a distant relative would post bond that suggested that they were able to financially support her grandmother and her brother until they were age sixteen. The youths were released and eventually settled into New York’s Lower East Side.
Likewise, Professor Benson’s grandmother was an unaccompanied minor. Arriving at New York City’s Ellis Island, her grandmother, born in Sporova, Russia (now known as Belarus) would arrive to Ellis Island at the age of nine with her eleven year old brother. Sent by their father, the young children were to join their eldest sister who was now twenty-years old. They were sent for two reasons: to avoid a scarlet fever epidemic, but also in fear of falling victims to a pogrom, or the massacre of Jews that was occurring in the youths’ native region. Sent on a steamship under the guise of being accompanied by a man who had been hired by their real parents to act as their “father,” once the “family” arrived to Ellis Island, the ruse was detected and the children were separated from this adult male. Once at Ellis Island, however, they were able to get into contact with their eldest sister who would then claim the children as her charges. Although the minors were not released to her due to the Inspector’s belief that she and her husband could not care for the children, a distant relative would post bond that suggested that they were able to financially support her grandmother and her brother until they were age sixteen. The youths were released and eventually settled into New York’s Lower East Side.
It is this shared history and commitment to support unaccompanied minors in the United States that brought these two professors together to work in collaboration.