Celia Story - Bryden

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15301835
This article is of 2 illegal immigrants that boarded what some know as the “the train of death”, or “the beast” to the American border. These immigrants say that the trip itself was probably the worst experience of their lives. One woman that boarded the train talked about the treacherous people that hung around and raped or sexually abused women if they did not have money to take. The ride takes days, sometimes weeks. Most of the ones that were interviewed by BBC reporters say that the ride is much worse for females because of the sexual assault that they go through. This way to cross the Mexican-American border is very dangerous as well, as the trip includes sitting on top of a fast speeding train, possible death of dehydration and hunger, and also dealing with border patrol once the refugees get to the border. 
I think that this trip would be definitely the worst days of my comfy life. I have never gone through anything of such danger and I’m sure many of the people that tried to get past the border in this manner could also say such about this horribly unsafe journey. I would think that the people daring to risk their lives in such a way are extremely desperate for freedom or a new life. I could not understand the pain it would be for Omar (an interviewee of the article) to go on the beast and be sent back to El Salvador, just to go on the beast once more. “Tam Lin says rabbits give up when they're caught by coyotes," Matt said after he'd calmed enough to trust his voice. "He says they consent to die because they're animals and can't understand hope. (House of the Scorpion) I think that this quotation fits in because the people that dare to ride “the beast” are desperate for another chance in life and in many of their situations, without a second chance, they may as well end up dead on the streets.

Celia's Story - Emily

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hdEKoXtxxnWBQdVjpszer-M-dC3Q?docId=d6f94b63861349b0a64682cff0c88789

My article is about a married couple, Agustin is forced to live in Mexico and Ana forced to live in the U.S. Ana has two kids of her own and three grandchildren. At one point Ana was living in the States and her kids were in Mexico. Ana told Agustin he had to help her kids cross the border, illegally. The kids who were 9 and 12, were too young to cross the border with a coyote, people who smuggle illegal immigrants into the U.S. They ended up having to cross 3 borders before making it into the United States and during that time drug smugglers and gang leaders threatened their lives.  With Agustin’s help the kids finally made it into the United States to be reunited with their family. This story is about a family who wants to be reunited and will do anything to make that happen.

This is similar to what Celia went through, though she never actually made it to the United States. Celia was trying to cross the border with coyotes and during that time her life was threatened, just like in this article I found. I can imagine it would have been hard for this family being separated by the border and unable to cross legally. This led them to having to cross illegally to be reunited, making this story more personal. In the book Celia says “No, darling. A man who takes people over the border. You pay him and he helps you go to the United States. Only first you have to cross the Farms.” Celia Shivered. “What an idiot I was! Those people don’t help you go anywhere. They lead you straight to Farm Patrol.” This is similar to the article, the coyotes did help Agustin and the kids but it took a lot longer than expected. 

Celia's Story - Haley

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43499929/ns/us_news-life/t/pulitzer-winning-journalist-admits-hes-illegal-immigrant/#.T2oyJWYbLfg

At age 12, Jose Antonio Vargas was sent from his home in the Philippines, to California to live with his grandparents. He never suspected he was an illegal immigrant until he applied for his driver’s license at age 16, when the clerk told him he had a fake green card. After confronting his grandfather, he learned his grandparents had purchased him fake documents. With help from his high school principal and superintendent, Jose received a scholarship to San Francisco State University, which helped him achieve his dream of becoming a writer. After a promising internship at the Washington Post, Jose received a job there and quickly became a well-known writer. Jose had written a profile of Mark Zuckerberg for The New Yorker, written an article on the HIV/AIDS epidemic which inspired a documentary, and received a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings.

Even with his contributions to the United States, Jose is facing deportation after he announced to the public that he is an illegal immigrant. Now, Jose is pushing for Congress to pass the DREAM Act, which would allow illegal immigrants like Jose to become citizens if they serve in the army or go to University. I believe that people like Jose should be allowed to stay, regardless of the rules. For starters, Jose was unknowing of his illegal status and he’s had a positive contribution to the United States.

In The House of the Scorpion, I find Matt’s story very similar to Jose’s. Matt was forced by Celia & Tam Lin (parent figures) to make a run for it over the Opium and Alacran border, and Jose was sent by his parents to illegally live with his grandparents. Both were of similar age when this happened, and were sent by their parents or caretakers to live in a different country for a better life.

When Celia wanted to go the United States, she turned to a Coyote, a man who takes people over the border. She did this because she didn’t know of any other way to reach the United States, and needed to escape her life in Alacran.  In the book and in real life, the millions of illegal immigrants are leading people to question if it is too difficult to be granted immigration to ‘in-demand’ countries such as the United States and Canada. 

Celia's Story - Tyler

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/11200-gunfight-at-mexican-border-forces-unusual-crossing-closures

This article is about a mexican drug fight that caused the US government to shut down two international boarder crossing stations. The Article states that because of this fight between the mexican government and the mexican drug traffickers, they would have harmed more people than they helped by trying to catch all of the drug pedlars. The reason that they harmed people is because of the location. This location was so important to people who are leaving the country because they could not get out of the country and could get killed by: Starvation, Drug wars, and Bandits who hid in bushes to steal all there belongings no mater what even if they have to kill them. Just think about a small family who gambles there lives to give there kids a better life than they had had. Just when the people think the gate to their new life is open it closes right in front of there faces. There was exact family in that fit the description and you probably visualized when the drug fight erupted and they where killed with out a second thought.

This article can relate to the house of the scorpion, not only is the article and book about drugs but in the way that the family wanted a better life for them selfs and there children. This is some-what like El Patron in the way that they all took the initiative to take it upon themselves to work toward a better future, only El Patron was in a more selfish way because he was only working for his self and not others. On the other hand the mexican family was working together to have a brighter future for everyone. You can also look at Celia's experience with boarder crossing, the only difference was Celia didn't have a family to work with it was just her all by her lonesome, but I would not doubt that if Celia had a family she would have thought in the same what as the family in the article did. You can see the total dedication in the story of the family, and that is how you know some one cares for you, they fight for you and your freedom to the last breath they take.