Leaving was not their first choice; it was their last

Karen Soto, 22, left her native Guatemala on July 2, bringing along her 6-year-old daughter, Lizeth, whom she had at age 16. “They promise you the moon and the stars, then they leave you,” she said of the girl’s father. In the U.S. she hopes to find a better life. Mike Christy/Arizona Daily Star

Delmar Soto left his native Guatemala when his daughter Karen was just a baby and his son Marcony wasn’t yet born.

First he tried to make a go of it working construction in neighboring Mexico, only going back to meet his daughter Karen. Years later, he moved on to the United States before Marcony celebrated his first birthday.

For most of his children’s early years, he was in this country, picking tomatoes in the Florida fields and deboning chicken breasts at the poultry plants in Delaware.

He wanted to give his kids an education, to offer them a shot at a brighter future.

But it wasn’t enough.

He came home, but eventually his kids started talking about leaving. Marcony was still a teenager when he gave up hope. Last year, at age 17, he made a dangerous trek through the Arizona desert on his way to the same chicken plant where Delmar had worked.

Now it’s Karen’s turn. But the 22-year-old isn’t going alone; she’s bringing her 6-year-old daughter Lizeth along for the treacherous journey.

Continue reading at the Arizona Daily Star.