Time apart and distance have caused Mexican immigrants to consider separation from their spouses or divorce, due to their inability to return home without documents.

Time has not been a good advisor to Mexican immigrants, who say that the distance and the passing years cause a marriage to cool off, so that the marriage and dreams of returning home are both cut short.

Mario, a Mexican immigrant who has lived in New York for 12 years, explained that after 10 years of not being able to see his wife or his children, his return to his native Huehuepiaztla, Puebla, was bittersweet. “My wife was always a good mother, but the relationship between us is not the same anymore. We have passed many years apart. I haven’t divorced her, but we do not have a relationship as a couple like we did before,” said this immigrant, 43, who said he would like freedom to remarry.

This phenomenon is not only among men. Women who are mothers and wives and leave their homes also express that the distance separates them from their children and gives them another perspective on life by being outside of the country. Isadora Luciano indicated that with two children, 18 and 27, she does not want to remarry.

“I left and came back. When my children told me that the man who was my husband had remarried, I was not surprised. Distance is not good for love. I’m still alone, but I am with someone who is not Mexican. He is a man with whom I have found understanding and respect, a different kind of love,” she said.

Sociology experts state that immigration is a burden that breaks not only the family ties, but also the feeling of belonging that individuals have. Due to the migration process, they also lose other emotional ties.