 María Flora Herrera, 4, front and center, cried "Papa!" when a Seattle Times photographer in Mexico surprised her with a picture of her father shown on a laptop computer. For almost 17 years, her father, Leonardo Herrera, 42, has been living and working illegally in Eastern Washington to support his family in Pajacuarán. He and his wife, Navidad, 34, center, do not want to rear their children in the United States; he only wants to work there. Herrera would prefer to go home at the end of each season but is trapped in the United States by the high cost of a "coyote" who would sneak him back across the border. The rest of his children, left to right, Fernando, 9; Leonardo, 16; Navidad, 14; and Susanna, 12, work to supplement the family's income. |
