Elias Zepeda Ordonez
I've lived the best I could
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My father Elias Zepeda was born on May 27, 1955 in Municipio De Xicotencatl Rio Blanco,
Mexico to Rufina Ordonez and Hilario Zepeda. His family had ten children, two that have passed away. He only attended school in
Mexico until the seventh grade. He said there was not much hope for kids over there, especially with a big family but to
work and provide income for their family.
Elias came to the United States in 1970 at the age of fifteen, tagging along with his older brother. He came as an
illegal immigrant to work and make some money. He was a field worker, picking any and every kind of vegetable you could
think of. While working as a migrant worker, he met a woman, Mary Ann Zepeda Ruiz, which he would marry almost nine years
later. This was on February 28, 1978. He has six daughters and no sons, but that's okay with him. He received his
green card in 1978 and in 2007; he became a citizen of
the United States. He says he only did it because his green card was about to expire.
He recalls visiting Mexico three important times in his life that had an impact on him, since he left it. One was to visit
a sick brother in-law and take his daughters to meet the family. The second time was to bury his mother and the last time
was to bury his father.
Every year he is asked by all his brothers and sisters to visit but he won't go. He says the only family he has now are
his wife, daughters and grandchildren. He says there is no one left in Mexico for him.
Besides Texas and Mexico, he has lived in New Jersey and Florida.
He now resides in Lytle, Texas
living his life in breeding, fighting and selling his roosters and enjoying his family.
This Interview was conducted in spanish and then translated.
What was your role in your family and your responsibilities?
I am the second oldest in my family. We were eight brothers and sisters all together. Your Uncle Santiago had the opportunity to finish high school and continue on with his studies. But I think that that only happened because he was son to a different mother. While he was in school studying and my mom was working I would stay at home with the rest of the kids in the house. But most of the times we would just get out of school and mom would come home, make us something to eat and send me to work in the sugar cane. It was up to me to fill my father's shoes. I had to work and help my mother with my siblings. I never even finished elementary because for me it was more important to help my mother.
What kind of relationship did you have with your parents?
For myself, my mother was my world. She was a woman who always put us before herself. I remember there were times we didn't have much to eat and jus t so she could give us seconds she wouldn't eat. She was always putting everything she had of herself into everything. She would take me to work on the nights when there was a full moon, just me and her. In those moments she would always tell me stories and how she would have liked for things not to be the way they were. One day she asked me if I had any anger towards her for making me work. I have so much guilt because I know I should have said no to her but like an a** I told her yes. After that, our nights in the fields were never the same. She was my mother and I love her much, I know that if she could have changed everything, she would have done it instantly. What can I tell you about my father. The relationship with him never existed. We would see him only when he needed money or a place to stay. I had a lot of anger towards him for abandoning my mother. I don't like to talk about him much. He gave me life but he was never my father.
Who made the decision to come to the United States?
The decision was made together between your Uncle Ruben and Me. We thought a lot about it and also about the risk but in the end it was something that we had to do. Your Uncle Santiago was already here because of his studies, so we already knew where we would be staying. I was fifteen and your Uncle was thirteen. I think that for him it was going to be a lot harder. We weren't coming for a vacation nor on a trip, our motive clear. To get here to make some money, send to our mother. Only because of her we came here. She needed all the help she could get.
What did you know about the United States?
We only knew what the people around us told us and what my brother would tell us. We knew we were going to have different opportunities and that we were going to find a good job to be able to help our mother. We were not really worried about where we were going to live, like I said your uncle was already helping us with that. I just knew that is was a land filled with more opportunities for me. I wasn't going to work the fields any more.
When did you come to the United States? How did you cross the border?
The time that we decided to come to the United States was in 1970, when I was about fifteen years old. My mother packed us some bread and water. We said good bye to our remaining siblings and we started on a walk that should have been no more than six hours or so. I know that with a car six hours is not long, but we were poor and didn't have the luxury of having a car. But we did have friends, and one of them gave us a three hour boost and then he turned back around. After that we walked until we came to the river. Our decision was to swim across the river into the United States. Back then it was the easiest way to come across. I don't think the immigration was that strong back in the days. People back then would help you cross without having to pay a coyote. Of all the times I had to cross over I never once paid a coyote money. At the beginning of crossing over your uncle Ruben was more scared then me, but in the end he did it any ways. I wasn't scared to cross over but I did wonder when I would come back home. I knew that my life was going to change.
This is a picture that mom gave me of you guys working, can you tell me what kind of job it was and how much did it pay?
Don't you see in this picture how we worked in the fields. That was the grand opportunity that was waiting for me when I arrived here. We picked anything and everything, cilantro, chile, cabbage, onion, okra, and navo (turnip). Anything and everything. The sh**est thing to pick was the okra. When you worked the fields picking the okra and you didn't cover yourself right, man they made your skin itch all over. I only picked okra two times in my life and only because I really needed the money. Back then they would pay us thirty cents a bundle or box depending what you picked. If we would get their at six in the morning and you picked one hundred fifty so bundles, then you already made fifty dollars for the day. Fifty dollars a day, seven days a week, we were making about three hundred fifty dollar a week. We never had a day off only if it rained really badly, other than that we were always working. I remember when the immigration would pass, someone would yell "Immigration" and you could see all the immigrants running into the woods or into the creeks. That was funny. When they didn't catch you and the immigration left, you would just start picking away. That was where I met your mother and she was good at picking the crops in the fields. She would always leave us guys behind whenever we would race against her. We had a lot of fun, what else could we do. That would make our days go by faster. I am glad to say that I don't have to do that anymore.
What were some difficulties you faced while in the United States?
The hardest thing for me was the language. Imagine coming to a strange place and not knowing anyone, you didn't understand them and they didn't understand you. How could we talk to one another. It was easier for me to get with people of my own race. We understood each other. I have been here for more than thirty years, you and I both know that I don't speak English unless I have to .I like to speak nothing but Spanish. Now days there are more white people speaking Spanish, than kids who carry the Mexican gene in them.
How did you meet your wife?
. I already answered that, when we were working in the fields. She had a lot more time working in the fields than me. Her dad had her working since she was six, seven years old. She would tell us that that's why she was so good at working the fields. I met her right away when I got here. She was different from all the other girls that were around us. Her hair was long, long and black, black. She was light complected but you never saw her natural color because we were always working in the sun. Well then your grandpa didn't like that she wanted to come with me, he didn't like it because then he wouldn't have her money. One night she snuck out from her house and she never returned. The rest is history
Why did you marry MaryAnn after my second sister was born and not after my first sister?
Well myself, just like any other man was afraid to get married. If I got married I thought that my days of having fun were over. Your mom didn't want to get married either after you first sister was born. We continued being together anyways. But once Caroline was born, I realized I wasn't going anywhere. We both also wanted immigration not to take me and the only way we could fix that was to get married and get my green card. With my green card, they couldn't send me back to Mexico because I was going to be here legally. I was also going to have a social security so I could look for a better job. But we stayed working the fields because we didn't have any education. That was all we knew how to do.
What can you tell me about this picture, who are all these women?
This is the only picture that you will find in my house with all your sisters and your mother. I have six daughters, the oldest one is thirty-three and the youngest one is eleven years old. I don't regret and I am not bothered by the fact that I had nothing but girls. All of you are hard workers, and you all want to do something with your lives. I was bothered that some of them had my grandkids kind of early but I am happy to have them around.
Do you think you instilled any of your cultures into them?
All of my daughters speak Spanish, they write it, not that great, and they understand it. They all know how to make homemade tortillas and maintain their house clean. It can be whatever it will be but they know that they have to support their husbands. I don't want them to raise their kids alone but I don't want them to allow themselves to be mistreated by their husbands. I think that I have showed them everything thing I can, with what little we have had.
What kind of father do you think you were to your daughters?
Well when you girls were not with your mother y'all were always with me outside doing whatever. I knew you were girls but I treated all of you like tomboys. I would show you how to box, play whatever kind of sport we could with the neighborhood kids, and even when I was doing mechanics on a car I always had one of you down there with me. I had to show you girls how to defend yourselves and how to react in certain situations. You were women and as women your lives were going to be more difficult than that of a man. I just wanted to prepare you as best as I could. I wasn't hugged or kissed as a child by my parents, they were very distant and I know I didn't do a lot of that back then with y'all, but now I am getting older and I feel like a failed you girls in that way, but I am trying to make it up by being more affectionate with my grandkids. My father was never in my life and I didn't want to do that to my girls.
What is this document I am showing you?
It is my certificate of when I became an American citizen. I had to get this paper because my green card was about to expire. If I didn't take it out the United State had the right to send me back to Mexico. My parents are dead; there is nothing left of me or for me in Mexico. All my family is here with me. It was time for me to become a citizen. I think that after almost twenty nine years of being a resident, it was time. I also didn't want to pay for the application just to renew it. All of my daughters just gathered money so I could pay for the application fee. Yes that's the paper saying that I am now an America Citizen.
How long has it been since you have been to Mexico?
Since I came in 1978 I have only been back to visit three times. When I went I took you girls to meet your uncles, aunts, and cousins. I went in 1990 to burry your grandmother and I didn't return until July of 2006 to burry your grandfather. I never visited if I didn't have to. I had my daughters to support and if work didn't allow me to go I wouldn't go. I don't regret not visiting like I should have. But I do regret not making my mom come live over with us. All my brothers that pass by here always invite me every December to go, but I don't because my family and my roosters are here.
I know that you recently went to Laredo because of your job, did you think the border patrol was going to believe you were an American citizen?
That's funny because my boss told me that if they didn't believe me he was going to leave me there and pick me up on his next trip back. They just asked me if I was an American Citizen I told them yes, and just like that they let me straight through. I thought they were going to make it hard on me, but I crossed much faster and easier than any other time before that.
What do you think is the American Dream?
I don't know what it is for everyone else but for me it was really simple. I wanted to come to the United States to make some money to help my mother. I did just that. We built her her house and we would send her money, there was never something she needed and didn't have. I was glad that she didn't have to work anymore. All she had to do was take care of my brothers and sisters. The other dream I had was to have my land, build my house and have a family. I have been able to make all that come true while I have been living here. I have been able to help my daughters get ahead in life. Any money that your mother and I make now is to enjoy and go have fun. These were the dreams I had when I crossed that border and I have accomplished them.
Do you regret making the choice of coming to the United States
No, no, no everything happens for one reason or another. The only thing I regret is not visiting my mother frequently and not having a better relationship with my father. I always wished I could go back to that night in the field and tell her that I wasn't angry with her, and that I knew it wasn't her fault. But I can't and that's just something I still have to live with. What can I do about it now, nothing. I am happy for how the rest of my life has turned out. No regrets there.
Is there anything else you would like to add to this interview?
I know that I didn't talk in long, long stories but that's just how I am. I think that the life I have lived has been a great one. I have my health, my family and my roosters, what more could I ask for. Immigrants come to the United State so that they can better the lives of their loved ones and themselves. If one doesn't have a dream they want to make come true, what is the point in living? Illegal immigrants work five times harder than legal people, they make a little bit of money but every penny they earn is used to better their lives than continue living in misery. That's how I see it anyways. One more thing I wish they would legalize rooster fightingin the state of Texas, I am tired of doing it in hiding.
I honestly have to say that if it were not for this report I would have never known anything other than who my dad is now. I wouldn't have known what a big softy he is or is trying to be now. We were never close and I am not saying we're going to be the best of friends but I understand him a little more now. The most important points to me for this report was finding out why immigrants decide to make the sacrifice of leaving their homes and understanding the reasons behind that choice. The other important fact I learned from this was why some of the immigrants take so long to go back home. I never knew that my dad didn't have the kinds of relationships that he wished he had had with his parents. I realized now that he was and has been trying to change that by trying to be different with his daughters and his grandkids. I also never have truly known how my parents met, and how they were both ordered to grow up so fast. I always have just thought that my dad was just a big mean person who liked to intimidate people; who has never cared of anyone but himself. I know now that we are important to him. That he was a big momma's boy and because he was never taught how to love, that it was hard for him to show it or learn how to do it to his daughters. His only showed feelings when he talked about his mother. That was the closes I have ever seen him show any emotion. He was pretty much blunt and straight forward with everything else. His stories have taught me that a lot of the choices were made because it was necessary and sometimes life will not always turn out the way you plan or hoped it would. But in the end the outcome would still be ok. If you know what you want in life, you just have to work, make sacrifices, and come as close to it as possible. I attempted to verify these stories by talking to the people that were around him when some of these events happened around him. People included my mom, uncles, and friends. Like he said "God, my pillow, and I know the whole truth". The benefit of knowing someone's history can be that you get to see what makes people the way they are or why events happen for a reason. The drawback is that sometimes they learn from it or sometimes the worst becomes repeated history. This was a good affective way for me to learn about someone's history.