CIUDAD JUAREZ -- Daniel Aqueche listened as other migrants debated the merits of allowing a policeman to hit you.
Was it better to take it because your priority was to survive? Was it better to object because even the poor have human rights?
Aqueche didn't offer an opinion. Later, as he washed dishes at Casa del Migrante shelter here, he confided that he would forever regret one particular brush with the law.
It was in Las Vegas, where he had gone in 2000, following the advice of others that there was plenty of work there. Over the course of seven years, he said, he was surprised at how much English he learned working with Americans in construction and landscaping.
"They treated me very well," the 28-year-old said wistfully.
A year ago, Aqueche's fortune changed. A policeman stopped him because one of his headlights was out. He ignored an order to appear in court.
"I was too scared," he said. "I was a fool."
Not long ago a policeman stopped him again, this time for speeding. He was arrested and appeared before a judge. The judge turned him over to immigration officials, and he was deported.
"For me the United States is the Holy Land," Aqueche said. "Tell people that if they go, they must respect the law."
After arriving in Juarez, he heard that Canada had a program for legal guest workers. Going back to his home state of Chiapas, he said, isn't much of an option because work is so scarce.
"I hope that I can go to Canada," he said. "I will do it right this time."
