DALLAS — Carlos Joaquin Salinas feels desperate, lonely and tempted.
As the Guatemalan migrant awaits an asylum hearing scheduled for 2026, he is recruiting family and friends from his homeland to join him in North Texas. He’s even talking to the smuggler who once charged him and his son Fernando $6,000 to cross the border between Ciudad Juárez and El Paso.
So far, he has helped more than 40 undocumented workers come to the Dallas area, he says. His actions come at the behest of employers who want more workers like him: agile, energetic people “que saben echarle ganas – who don’t quit,” he said.
The job opportunities are such that when he’s not fixing roofs, or working flea markets, he’s mowing lawns from Fort Worth to Frisco, thanks to his new landscaping business. His co-employee: his 14-year-old son, who’s on summer break.
“If I was to bring everyone I knew back in Guatemala – everyone I played soccer and baseball with, the ones who once shared a dream of being farmers like me – there still wouldn’t be enough” workers to fill jobs in the area, said Joaquin, 34.