The big news in recent weeks has been unaccompanied children crossing the border, however, there are also curious stories like casual conversation between an immigration official from the US side with a young Mexican who expressed his intention to cross the border legally, or even illegal to make it to the United States.
The spontaneous talk recorded by a young man who said he was originally from Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, went viral because of how entertaining and revealing it was.
The young man, named Osvaldo Sánchez, used his TikTok account to broadcast his unusual conversation with a border agent on the wall between Mexico and the United States, near Tijuana.
At first, they start talking about personal issues. Osvaldo tells the agent that he would have liked to have been born in the United States, “but it happened to be this, right? , he says.
The agent, who is friendly and open, tries to convince him that there is nothing wrong with being born in Mexico. “Mexico is very beautiful, ” he says, and then Osvaldo begins to tell him what the place where he lives is like: with dirt streets.
“What I like about the United States are its streets, its houses, everything is beautiful. Where I live, the streets are dirt,” said the 17-year-old Mexican from Puerto Vallarta.
The agent, in his role of discouraging the boy, insists “but people treat you well, right? They are very kind,” to which the young man replies yes.
The young man manages to ask the border agent what is the process they follow when they arrest an immigrant. The agent tells him about fingerprinting and deportation.
Osvaldo also asks the agent how much he earns and if he is paid an extra commission for each detained immigrant.
With complete confidence, regardless of what they are recording, the agent responds that he earns about $ 2,600 every two weeks and that he does not receive any commission for each migrant he catches, he emphasizes that what he makes isn’t really that much because the U.S. is a very expensive place to live.
He insists that his salary may be enough to live in Mexico, but in California it is not enough for much.
The agent and the young Mexican also spoke about his aspirations, the agent even told him that his family is Mexican but they are not interested in living in the United States and they only go occasionally to vacation or visit him.
The agent also asked the young man his age and what he wants to study. The young man says that he is studying in high school and that he may obtain a student visa and that if he cannot cross into the United States, he would like to be in the navy.
Osvaldo published the full talk on his TikTok account @osvaldoss1, in which it is observed that, despite the somewhat intimidating appearance of the border agent, the agent was very respectful with the young Mexican.
The video quickly went viral, capturing millions of views with the six videos showing the full talk, while receiving thousands of comments from users.
Some complained that he wants to leave Mexico and even considered that he does not love his own country. Others joked that it was a strategy to distract him while other migrants crossed.
Some others encouraged him to keep trying to cross legally or even illegally, some even gave him tips on places with little surveillance to be able to cross.
Many others urged him not to continue wanting to leave the country and better dedicate himself to making content on TikTok or YouTube since he managed a good interview with the agent who opened up a lot in the conversation that went viral. At the moment, he has achieved 37,000 followers since the conversation was posted on the social network.
You can see the videos on TikTok @osvaldoss1