An immigrant who purchased the land where he crossed over into the U.S. illegally said he won’t stop other migrants from doing the same, BuzzFeed News reported Friday.
Ociel Mendoza illegally entered the U.S. when he was 18-years-old and looking for seasonal work on Texas ranches, according to BuzzFeed News. Mendoza bought the land where he illegally crossed into the country over 40 years earlier, and now allows other migrants looking for a better life to come through the area.
“I was undocumented once myself. Who am I to stop them?” Mendoza told BuzzFeed News.
Undocumented immigrants frequently crossed the border looking for seasonal work in the late 1970s when paying a smuggler didn’t cost thousands of dollars and border officials weren’t as militarized, according to BuzzFeed News. Mendoza said he and some friends illegally crossed the border in 1979 and worked together while admiring the neighboring ranch.
