They’re Heading Home, With His Directions

Every weekday in December, beginning as early as 1 a.m., hundreds of immigrants line up outside the Mexican Consulate near downtown Los Angeles. Outfitted in heavy coats, cowboy hats and serapes, they come prepared for a long wait.

All are here for the same thing: to obtain a vehicle permit that will allow them to drive across the border for the Christmas holidays. It is the first stop in their annual trek home.

No one knows this better than Jose Luis Sanchez, who was among several vendors outside the consulate on 6th Street last week selling coffee, hot chocolate, rolls and umbrellas to those in line.

Few performed their job with the pizazz or ingenuity of Sanchez. After all, the consulate rush is also an annual ritual for this sidewalk entrepreneur.

Sanchez, 56, long ago found his niche selling detailed road maps of Mexico for $5. Infallibly gracious, he also has appointed himself the unofficial guide to consulate bureaucracy from 6 a.m. to noon -- hoping that by offering his assistance, people will buy his maps.

He knows where the bathrooms are. Where to park. What documents need copies. And why you must turn off your cellphone inside the building.

Many assume he’s a consulate employee because he can recite, like liturgy, what an immigrant will need to obtain a vehicle permit: “Your vehicle registration, a copy of your residency papers or passport, a credit or bank card.... “

Five years ago, Sanchez came to the land of opportunity and found his in providing Mexicans the tools to return home.

“It’s seasonal work,” he said of his vending job. “When the harvest is over, I find something else.”

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The long line of immigrants waiting for permits to go home for the holidays is symbolic of the tightknit Mexican community. It is also part of the economic lifeblood of the poor villages from which many immigrants hail. Like large U.S. retailers, many of these rural outposts depend on Christmas season spending.

“The little money you bring stays there,” said Odilon Alvarez, an immigrant from Ciudad Guzman who now lives in South Los Angeles. Alvarez was among the first to arrive at the consulate gate early Friday, showing up at 1:30 a.m. with a blanket and a folding chair.

Many immigrants attribute the long lines to positive changes brought about by Vicente Fox’s presidency in Mexico. It is his reforms, they said, that make it easier to travel back and forth across the border this time of year.

The Mexican auto industry used to complain that many immigrants either left or sold their cars in Mexico when they returned for the Christmas holidays. This deprived the industry of sales and created a fleet of undocumented vehicles.

To address this problem, the Mexican government in 1999 required immigrants to leave a cash deposit of $400 to $800 per car when re-entering the country. Enraged, immigrants boycotted Mexican products -- including Corona beer and Bimbo bread -- until the deposit requirement was rescinded.

After Fox was elected in 2000, his administration instituted a new policy. It required that immigrants purchase $39 vehicle permits to enter the country, with the stipulation that they must leave with their vehicles within six months or lose a small deposit -- based on the age of their vehicle -- paid for by credit or debit card.

In the past, Mexican police and border officials were known for routinely stealing money and Christmas gifts from immigrants coming home.

Fox campaigned to change border policies and attitudes. During his first Christmas in office, he went to the border to personally welcome returning immigrants.

Consulate offices around the U.S. also began selling vehicle permits, giving immigrants an alternative to even longer processing lines at the border.

Fox’s actions have encouraged many immigrants to drive home during the holiday season.

“Before, I was afraid to drive because I’d heard all the stories,” said one man waiting outside the consulate who identified himself only as Gabriel from Mexico City. “I’d always fly. I began driving home after Fox [took office].”

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At 7 a.m. last Friday, the consulate opened for business and the line began moving slowly.

At the entrance, Sanchez, dressed in black leather jacket and newsboy cap, counseled a woman on where to get an official letter allowing her to take a loved one’s corpse back to Mexico.

“Fourth floor, senora. That’s where the legal department is,” he said.

To one man exiting the consulate, Sanchez quizzed, “Did you get it? All right, great, amigo. Have a good day.”

When the line moved forward, he urged people to turn off their cellphones inside the office. Too many on at one time could crash the computer system.

“It happened yesterday,” he said.

Five years ago, Sanchez came from Mexico to live with his daughter in Los Angeles. One day he accompanied a friend to the consulate. He saw people getting vehicle permits, then examining a large map of Mexico on display to plan their trip home.

“That’s where I saw an opportunity,” said Sanchez, who spent years running a stationery shop in his hometown of Naranjos, Veracruz.

He bought some maps in Tijuana and set about learning everything he needed to make himself useful to immigrants.

Whenever he came upon a question he couldn’t answer, he’d ask consulate staff.

These days, Sanchez sells a few hundred maps during the holiday season.

The job has led to other work. One man Sanchez met in line paid him to help put up Christmas lights. Another, he said, paid him to help clean his warehouse.

“This is the best place to meet people,” he said. “If I just went up to people on the street, they’d never talk to me.”

Friday morning, he sold 35 maps -- his best showing since the day after Thanksgiving.

Despite his seasonal occupation, Sanchez said he wouldn’t think of driving back to Mexico.

“It’s very tiring driving all that way,” he said. “When I go, I use the plane.”