Guillen masterminded the rescue trip to the Houston area
just like one of his radio station fundraisers: on the fly,
with friends' help. After the storm hit, they borrowed a boat
and drove south to save strangers. Like many in Texas, Guillen's family has mixed immigration
status and is divided by the border. His mother, a Mexican
national, still lives in Piedras Negras, Mexico, with one of
his brothers. His father is a legal resident, and his brother
Jesus is a U.S. citizen. Alonso Guillen applied for DACA, an Obama-era program that
protected from deportation about 800,000 immigrants brought
to the country illegally as children. He applied because so
many of his family and friends were in the U.S., and that's
where he saw his future, his brother said.
``His dream was to open a restaurant, something the whole
family could enjoy and where they could come together,'' his
brother said.
``He was trying; he was always updated with the news about
the Dreamer program. He was ready to get it fixed and done,'' friend Manny Muniz
said of Guillen's immigration status. Muniz, a fellow disc jockey, met Guillen a few years ago in
the midst of a more minor crisis: He had booked a gig and
didn't have any speakers. Guillen lent him some, and they
started working together. After the storm struck, Guillen started posting weather
reports on Facebook. Early last week Guillen told Muniz he was headed to
Houston, ``to go save lives, go help people, volunteer his
time.''
Muniz said part of the reason Guillen applied for DACA and
wanted to become a legal resident was that he longed to be
able to cross the border legally to visit Mexico, especially
his hometown. Instead, Guillen will be buried this week in Lufkin. He is
survived by an 8-year-old daughter, Mariana, who lives in
Guanajuato, Mexico, his brother said.
Keywords matched
immigration immigrants DACA deportation