Thousands of students cross the border of Mexico to us for school. Some are now ready to graduate.

For most high school students, forgotten task or gymnastics clothing can involve a text message to a father. In the case of José M. Vázquez, a particular forgotten article, his birth certificate, did not mean that there was no school that day.

Vázquez, 24, now a last year student in the Imperial Valley of the State University of San Diego, has been crossing the border between the United States and Mexico to California to attend school for about nine years. On May 12, he will graduate during a call in Mexicali, Mexico. His mother attends the ceremony, gathered by his university, something that he could not do because he cannot get a visa to enter the United States.

Vázquez is one of the tens of thousands of transmission students, some as young as the kindergartens, who cross the border from Mexico to California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to follow an education in the United States.

Transmission students have documentation that allows them to cross the US for school, such as a passport, a birth certificate or a certificate of naturalization, but living in Mexico is often more profitable and allows them to keep their families. Students who cross the border during the intermediate and secondary school often use an American direction, sometimes of a friend or family, to avoid the scrutiny of the school district.

Some students are American citizens who have lived in Mexico most of their lives, while others return to Mexico after living in the United States for economic reasons or family gatherings, said Laura Dicochea, a doctorate candidate at the State University of Arizona, who investigates transforders students.

“It’s like a circular migration,” Decochea told News themezone.

The first in his family to graduate from the university, Vázquez reflected on his educational trip, and many others.

A transmission trip of the transmission school

After his father was deported from the United States in 2006, Vázquez, who was born in Arizona, moved to Mexicali, Mexico when he began crossing the border a few years later to attend Central Union High School in the center, California.

Although he is a American citizen, for Vázquez, like many transmitters, or cross -border– The students, who live in Mexico with their family, made sense because it is “so part of my culture, of me, that I think it will be very difficult for me if I have to leave that,” he said, pointing out that he is grateful to study in the United States.

During the high school, Vázquez woke up at 4:30 am local time, he waited on the border for about two hours and arrived at school before his first class at 8 am in 2019, he enrolled in Imperial Valley College, a community university 15 miles from Mexicali, before landing in the Imperial Valley of the State University of San Diego.

The history of Vázquez reflects that of Diana Lara Zamora, 21, now a last year student at Arizona State University, who crossed the United States from eighth grade to high school.

“It would cross three different states: Baja California, Sonora and Arizona every day,” said Lara Zamora.

She began attending school in the US at age 14, living with a family friend in San Luis, Arizona, sometimes. A typical school day for Lara Zamora began around 4 am local time.

Her mother would drive 30 minutes to the border to leave her and her younger sister, where they would wait among other students before walking 25 minutes or take a taxi at PPEP Tec High School in San Luis. During the winter, when seasonal agricultural workers cross Arizona, wait on the border could be up to two hours.

“They are freezing,” he said on the morning. “I remember my nose was red.”

When Lara Zamora became a student in Asu in 2020, he assured homes on the campus, a significant experience that allowed him to “meet people from all over the world,” said Lara Zamora.

Javier Melara, 21, who will graduate with Vázquez in Mexico, has been crossing the border to attend school in California since he was 11 years old.

“You have to face many challenges,” he said. “You have to face a lot of fear, a lot of rejection of some people.”

Melara said that even university, he would not share with his friends who crossed the border daily for concern that the school district could find out.

“I lived with fear because some people were expelled from school,” he said, and said it was something that saw several classmates, including a friend.

Lara Zamora told News themezone that she doesn’t “feel like me transforder means the border itself.”

“For me, it’s more about having two cultures in yourself.”

For transmission students, the benefits of living in Mexico mean that they regularly face the challenges of crossing the border: long waiting times, tense interactions with customs of the United States and border protection agents and the violent reaction of community members, all in the context of a national migration debate focused on the border. This week, News themezone reported That illegal crosses along the southern border of the United States fell by more than 40% this year to 129,000 crosses in April, challenging historical trends. Although transmission students cross legally in the United States, the act of crossing the border makes them vulnerable to scrutiny.

Scrutiny, fear and then graduation

Another source of restlessness for Melara were their interactions with customs officers and border protection.

“I feel that we have this rooted fear, this constant fear, such as flight or fight,” Melara said of being often sent for secondary inspection, allowing officers to ask additional questions.

Lara Zamora, realizing that her male friends were often arrested in a secondary inspection, said she was careful with her interactions with customs officers. Vázquez said he felt that CBP staff sought to intimidate, a consistent issue that tarnished his trip. “They think you’re a criminal,” he said.

News themezone contacted US customs and border protection agents to comment, but did not receive an answer before the publication.

Some students are put under a microscope by residents of their school district. For Lara Zamora, the frustration of the community members who felt that their taxes benefited non -residents gave the transfer to a different high school.

“I felt that was really unfair because it’s not my fault,” said Lara Zamora. “My parents don’t want to be illegal immigrants here.”

Lara Zamora, Vázquez and Melara graduate this month. Lara Zamora, plans to register at the postgraduate school. Vázquez is taking a sabbatical year to pursue his passion to act as Drag Queen. Melara plans to follow a master’s degree in education, one day to achieve a doctorate and “dreamless,” he said.

Vázquez’s mother, who has attended her drag performances, will have the opportunity to see him at a different stage in the next few days in the SDSU graduation call in Mexicali. As he could not cross the border to attend his high school graduation, Vázquez said it is important to have it at the ceremony in Mexico, particularly since he is the first in his family to graduate.

Lara Zamora, also a first generation student, says the understanding that millions of other students have experienced similar challenges inspire her to help students like herself.

“The first generation means that you are the first, but I hope you are not the last one,” he said.

• Mexico
• Border between us-Mexico
• Customs and border protection of the USA.