Our View
Story puts a face, name

on one U.S. immigrant

The story of Fulgencio Sosa Cortes that appears on page 3 of today’s edition should be translated into Spanish and reprinted in Mexico to serve as a cautionary tale for anyone who believes the streets of the United States are paved with gold.

America’s streets, as it turns out, are not paved with gold for every immigrant who crosses her borders, as Cortes did illegally in June 2002.

The politics of immigration can be debated ad nauseam without reaching a consensus as to what should be done. Cortes’ story puts a very human face on a story that is often told only in statistics.

There are at least two lessons to be learned in this story. One, those who would come here illegally should know there is no guarantee their dream will be realized. And two, people who might otherwise be dismissed by the community at large are not faceless "Mexicans." They are, much like Fulgencio Sosa Cortes, very real people made of flesh and blood.

Cortes’ story is the story of a husband and father who wanted nothing more than to make a better life for his family in his native country.

One may question the way he chose to obtain that better life, but not the commitment he showed to his family that led him to take the risks he did.

A harrowing trip from Mexico brought Cortes and his cousin Salvador Santos to Phoenix, Ariz., and then to Freehold Borough just over a year ago. Like so many who came before them, they were let out on Throckmorton Street and told to wait for work.

Over the next year, Cortes scratched out a living and sent most of his earnings back to his wife and two children in Mexico. His dream was to work in America for one year and then to return home with enough savings to buy a small farm.

On the day before he completed one year in the United States, Cortes was on a job site in Jackson when a felled tree struck him in the head. Seriously injured, he was taken to the hospital and died the next day.

One can only hope he did not suffer in those final hours. The thought of his final day thousands of miles from home, unable to be surrounded by the three people he loved most in this world — his wife and two precious children — is truly heartbreaking.

Politics aside, this is a human interest story and the tip of the iceberg of the thousands of stories that immigrants to America — both legal and illegal — bring with them to our shores.