TIJUANA, Mexico — On the outer edge of the city, up a series of pitted dirt roads, José Alvarez waits alone in an unfurnished duplex. The only kitchen appliances are a mini fridge raised off the floor by cinder blocks and a camping stove on the countertop. He sleeps on an air mattress.
The house is situated between a gaping garbage-filled gulch and the scorched remains of what was once the neighbor’s house.
About four hours after what was supposed to have been just a routine traffic stop in late February, José was deported to Tijuana, a city he hadn’t set foot in since 1974, after being held at the Cal State Long Beach police substation.
The CSULB police officer who arrested José works on a campus that has made strong efforts to welcome over 900 undocumented students — one of whom is the student body president — in a city where the mayor, Robert Garcia, talks openly about about having been an undocumented immigrant.
On Feb. 21, Officer I. Sanchez pulled José over for a broken headlight on Ximeno Avenue and Los Coyotes Diagonal, an intersection that falls within the University Police’s jurisdiction a mile off campus. At the time, José was on the way from his house in Cambodia Town to pick his son Victor up from work at Krispy Kreme Donuts. It was about 10:30 p.m.