After 20 years of being separated by migration, a difficult first embrace in New York City Red de Pueblos Trasnacionales – or the Transnational Peoples Network – is an organization that brings together Indigenous and rural immigrants in the city, while facilitating family reunions A voice stands out among all the voices in Terminal Four of John F. Kennedy International Airport. “Don Alonso!” someone shouts.
Don Alonso looks around to see who’s calling his name. He raises his hand in approval, as if to say, “yes, that’s me.” Don Alonso Escamilla left Mexico for the first time in his life and took his first plane ride.
He will now see his daughter after 18 long years of waiting. The Aeromexico flight lands on August 9, but Don Alonso has already been traveling for several hours. He left Tlapa — a mountainous municipality in the Mexican state of Guerrero — at 9 p.
m. the night before to board the plane at two o’clock the next afternoon in Mexico City. For the occasion, he chose a plaid shirt, beige pants, leather shoes and a blue blazer, to add a bit of elegance to the outfit.
He carries a red carry-on suitcase. At JFK, when the immigration authorities ask him where he’s going, Don Alonso answers the obvious question with ease: “Well, to New York, where else?” Once outside the terminal, Don Alonso — whose knees hurt from spending so much time sitting — gets into a car that enters the rainy New York night. Except in Times Square , nighttime in the B.