MONTERREY, Mexico — Graced with Lone Star brands like H-E-B, Whataburger and 7-Eleven, this affluent city in northeastern Mexico is home to global conglomerates and posh neighborhoods, enjoying strong economic and cultural ties to Dallas-Fort Worth. It’s a mere two-hour drive from the Texas border.
Francisco Contreras, who migrated here from Guatemala, has grown fond of Mexico’s third-largest metro, with its wide avenues, skyscrapers and plentiful jobs. Then there are the smuggling organizations. They’ve offered to take him to the United States, he said, to a choice of destinations.
It was late summer. Standing outside a faith-based shelter, borrowing a cellphone, he pointed to a map of border cities within a short ride. He said he’s in no “real hurry” to continue his journey to North Texas, where he knows many other Guatemalans working in construction.
“I’m waiting,” he said, “for the right moment.”
How Contreras got here underscores the importance of Monterrey, not just as a prosperous city with a need for more workers, but also as a high-profile way station — an increasingly important logistical hub for some people fleeing violence and economies ravaged by nearly three years of the COVID-19 pandemic.