nriquez sticks out like a sore thumb. Meeting him for the first time on the Mesa State campus or anywhere else, you would be likely to remember him.

Outspoken and brutally honest at times, he often clashes with those around him. Yet, those around him gravitate towards him. He’s as charismatic as he is pigheaded. Meeting him for the first time, you would be reminded of a teddy bear, as hios friends call him.

His personality is magnetic, but the fact that since the age of nine, he has been living in the U.S. illegally, is not so obvious.

He is a student at Mesa State and has only agreed to be referred to by his last name, Enriquez. A search on the campus directory will not bring up his name.

Enriquez may not be the typical college student but neither does he fit with the stereotype given to illegal aliens. He says few illegal immigrants actually do. Despite being unable to access federal financial aid for schooling or be classified as an in-state student, he has managed to obtain funding for his entire college education.

Although many MSC college students fund some of their education with scholarships, few can enroll without any federal finnancial aid.

Enriquez was two years old the first time he left Mexico for the U.S. He explained that his family would come to the U.S. for the holidays with 30 day passes to visit relatives and added that his family would stay beyond the expiration of their passes.

“My mom wanted me to go to school here,” said Enriquez, “I’ve only gone to kindergarten in Mexico.”

The arrangement worked for a couple of years until, according to Enriquez, border control services revoked their passes. His family had been back and forth between the U.S. and Mexico five times. His two younger siblings were born in the U.S. and were legal U.S. citizens.

“We were on our way back to Mexico one time when they (Border Patrol) started asking me questions, I was young and I didn’t know what to say,” said Enriquez.

Not long after, Enriquez’s mother was able to find a fake social security number and a residence card. With these she was able to accompany her children, Enriquez’s siblings, into the U.S. despite having been refused a pass.

At the age of nine, Enriquez was left with his father in Mexico. Enriquez recalled that his father was unsure of what to do and finally decided on trying to secretly cross the border.

Enriquez and his father’s first attempt was nearly successful. They had made it through the border fence with relatively little trouble. They were a mile away from a major highway in a van with Enriquez’s uncle who had picked them up after they had crossed when they were pulled over.

“They sent us back. We were so close and then they took us and walked us over the border at El Paso,” said Enriquez.

Enriquez would cross the border one last time with the help of a coyote. A coyote, Enriquez said, is a guide that helps groups of immigrants cross the border for money.

The crossing began in the morning only a day after Enriquez and his father had been escorted into El Paso. Enriquez, his father and 30 other people were shuttled by taxi to a spot some 10 miles from the U.S. border. According to Enriquez, the group was expected to run in the direction that the taxi driver gave them and that they would meet up with another group of people. The coyote would meet them there later that day.

“It was really hot, you can imagine what that part of Mexico is like,” said Enriquez, “it took us about an hour before we reached the other group.”

After waiting for hours in the desert, the group had still not heard or seen anything of the coyote. Enriquez’s father, decided to go look for the coyote and Enriquez was left with the others in the group.

“By that time I was really hungry and thirsty, I didn’t ask anyone for anything because I didn’t know them,” said Enriquez.

Several hours after nightfall, Enriquez’s father made it back to the group with a coyote and the crossing continued. The coyote instructed the group to walk single file and that if anything were to go wrong they were to lie down and close their eyes.

Over the next eight hours, Enriquez remembers crossing gullies, streambeds and even having a close run in with what he believes to have been border control.

“We had just crossed an almost dry riverbed when a spotlight flashed on in the sky — I didn’t even hear the helicopter until it was right above us,” said Enriquez.

Enriquez said at that time the coyote yelled for them to run up the hill. The helicopter eventually passed and the coyote decided that the group would wait down by the riverbed until nightfall. They had been walking through night and well into the morning. According to Enriquez, dawn was only a few hours away.

That day, any water that the group had brought had run out. Enriquez had gone for more than twelve hours without water while trekking through the desert before someone in the group filled a jug from the muddy water of the riverbed. Enriquez explained how he had waited for the dirt to settle down to the bottom of the jug but that he didn’t wait too long.

“The best drink of water I’ve ever had came from a jug with two inches of mud on the bottom,” said Enriquez.

After night fell, Enriquez figured that the group walked another four hours before they reached a road and a van that was waiting for them. The van took them in groups to a house where they were to wait for their family to come and pick them up. That day, Enriquez and his father were picked up by Enriquez’s uncle once again. This time he took them home to where his mother and siblings were living. They had made it.

“It seemed so unreal,” said Enriquez, “for almost three days, I was doing nothing but running and hiding between Mexico and the U.S. and two days later I was signed up for fifth grade and basketball too.” Though after all of this, Enriquez would still face plenty of difficulties. This was apparent in regard to what Enriquez would be able to do with his life. See our next issue to read the rest of Enriquez’s story.