1st

Johnny Hanson

Illegal immigration was one of most contested topics in 2012. Lost in political squabbling is the inherent danger of those following their dreams to cross the U.S. border in search of the American dollar and the hope of a better life for themselves and their family back home. Many migrants make the journey safely. Others are caught and deported. Some are sent back home in wooden crates. About 150-250 people a year die attempting to cross the border. About 2,000 have died in the past 10 years according to statistics compiled by No More Deaths and the Arizona Recovered Human Remains Project. On July 22, 2012, a smuggler driving 22 migrants in a pickup four hours southwest of Houston, crashed the truck into a tree after a the front passenger tire blew. Fifteen people died. Two of them were best friends and cousins, Leonel Tipaz de Leon, 21, and Diego Tipaz Jorge, 16, of Piedras Blancas, Guatemala. The two cousins shared dreams escaping the cornfields in rural Guatemala where they made about $7 a day. Just four hours from their destination, Leonel and Diegoas dreams ended. This is their journey back home. Goliad County Sheriff Kirby Brumby walks past the mangled Ford F-250 extended cab that was carrying 23 migrants when is crashed outside of Goliad killing 15 sits in the Goliad County Sheriff's Department impound lot Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012, in Houston. Leonel Tipaz de Leon, 22 and Diego Mardoqueo Tipaz Jorge, 16, were about 160 miles away from Houston when the pickup truck they were traveling in along with 21 others blew out a tire causing the truck to crash killing 15 migrants including Leonel and Diego, just outside of Goliad. Leonel and Diego were on their way to their uncle's home, and then were to move on and live with Leonel's sister and Diego's brother in Amarillo where the boys would work on a dairy farm.