LA FAMILIA HERNANDEZ DE GUERRERO Y QUEENS
In 2009, Mauro Hernández led his undocumented colleagues while working in a chicken roasting chain in Manhattan, called Dirty Bird to Go, in a successful lawsuit to recover overtime that made them work. In 2011, Mr Chicken to Go started, a restaurant that specializes in take-out orders in Queens with more than one resemblance to its former employer. His story is one of redemption and resilience - The American dream sans the Green Card.
Mauro Hernández and his family have lived the American dream in Woodside, Queens, New York. He is originally from San Juan Tecoalcingo, a small town located 40 minutes east of Iguala, in the state of Guerrero. A place that no many had heard before until 2014 when 43 students from the Rural Normal School "Raúl Isidro Burgos" of Ayotzinapa disappeared under circumstances not yet clarified. According to the reports of the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts of the IACHR, authorities of the three levels of government, security forces and the Guerreros Unidos cartel were implicated in the disappearance of the normalistas.
For Mauro and his family, however, the violence and complicity of the government with organized crime have not been an abstract fact. In August 2014, a cartel in the state of Morelos murdered his nephew, Juan Hernández Jr., for refusing to pay $ 450 to cover a protection fee for his business. There were no official reports or a judicial investigation, nor was it the subject of journalistic notes. Mauro's nephew is another unnamed victim, one of the more than one hundred thousand deaths recorded in the last eight years. Los Hernández is an example of the situations facing undocumented Mexican immigrants in New York City, as well as those families who return to their place of origin and are trapped, some of them, in activities related to drug trafficking.
The project was awarded with a honorable mention at the XVII Bienal de Fotografía del Centro de la Imagen and was published as a newsprint.
NEW YORK, NY. NOVEMBER 23, 2014. General view of the New York metropolitan area, the largest gateway for immigration historically in US history. More than half a million undocumented immigrants living within the five counties of New York City.
QUEENS, NY. NOVEMBER 20, 2014. Magdalena Valtierra, wife Mauro watches closely as President Obama talked about amnesty for the nearly 11.4 million migrants living in the US, during the Latin Grammy Awards.
QUEENS, NY. NOVEMBER 21, 2014. After working several years in kitchens in Manhattan, he mastered his style in Korean delis.
QUEENS, NY. NOVEMBER 21, 2014. Mauro Hernández shares a moment with his dog Solovino and his US-born son. Mauro Hernández Jr. Mauro Jr. was arrested during a civil action perpetrated in front of the Mexican consulate in solidarity with Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, where 43 students disappeared with responsibility of the Mexican government and the United Warriors cartel. Solovino died in 2015.
QUEENS, NY. AUGUST 21, 2015. Daily life in front of Mr. Chicken to Go, located on Roosevelt Avenue Within New York City. Approximately 643,000 undocumented immigrants live in around NY neighborhoods, it is estimated that Queens is home to most of them, specifically 246,000.
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK. NOVEMBER 19, 2014. A brown statue of liberty is seen in a window on 54th Street. Today, many Americans can separate the nostalgia of landing their ancestors on Ellis Island with the 12 million or more undocumented immigrants who they currently live in the US.
MANHATTAN, NY. NOVEMBER 22, 2014. Northern duo Grupo Estruendo de Acapulco, Guerrero, plays corridos in the New York subway.
QUEENS, NY. NOVEMBER 16, 2014. La Boom nightclub in Woodside, where Sangre de Aguila and Jersey Kid faced a wrestling match that symbolizes the fight between Mexico and the US.
QUEENS, NY. NOVEMBER 21, 2014. Mauro Hernández Jr born in the United States, son of Mauro Hernández owner Mr. Chicken to Go, was arrested during a civil action perpetrated in front of the Mexican consulate in solidarity with Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, where 43 students of the normal school Rural Raul Isidro Burgos, disappeared with the responsibility of the Mexican government and the Guerreros Unidos cartel.
MANHATTAN, NY. NOVEMBER 20, 2014. After the Mexican consulate and Grand Central St. protesters went to the United Nations headquarters building to continue the call for the appearance of the 43 missing students from the rural normal school Raúl Isidro Burgos. This day was part of the global action for Ayotzinapa, where many parts of the world held demonstrations.
MANHATTAN, NY. NOVEMBER 20, 2014. Demonstration inside Grand Central St. in rush hour, calling for the appearance with life of the 43 students missing from the rural normal school Raul Isidro Burgos. This day was part of the global action for Ayotzinapa, where many parts of the world held demonstrations.
IGUALA, GUERRERO. NOVEMBER 30, 2014. Guerrero, the state where Mauro Hernández was born, is full of clandestine graves, especially around the mountains of Iguala and San Juan Tecoalcingo, it is believed that it is possible to find graves dating back to the 70s during the dirty war in Mexico.
HUITZUCO, GUERRERO. DECEMBER 5, 2014. Miguel Ángel Jiménez, founder of the Community Police of Xaltianguis in 2013 and leader of the Union of Peoples and Organizations of the State of Guerrero (UPOEG) monitors the Hoyo Blanco hills, during one of the Ayotzinapa student searches . Miguel Ángel was found dead inside his taxi near the town of Xaltianguis in the municipality of Acapulco on August 8, 2015.
HUITZUCO, GUERRERO. DECEMBER 5, 2014. A cartel informant climbs a tree to get a better view looking for cartel hawks in the Hoyo Blanco hills, during one of the searches of the 43 students led by Jiménez Blanco.
SAN JUAN TECOALCINGO, GUERRERO. DECEMBER 6, 2014. In August, hitmen killed Mauro's nephew (left) after he refused to pay a $ 450 USD fee to cartel members in the state of Morelos. There were no news reports, no outrage and no real investigation. His nephew was another victim without a name, one of the more than 100,000 dead in the last eight years.
SAN JUAN TECOALCINGO, GUERRERO. DECEMBER 6, 2014. Norberta Aguilar, mother of Mauro Hernández washes some pods called huajes, which Mauro used to enjoy as an egg breakfast.
SAN JUAN TECOALCINGO, GUERRERO. DECEMBER 6, 2014. Mauro was born in San Juan Tecoalcingo, a town that lies on a narrow, half-paved road near the border with the states of Morelos and Guerrero. Since the scrutiny has increased on the Mexican highway, this popular route has become popular among drug traffickers, who often move product through the plantations that dot the mountains, en route to Mexico City. According to Mauro, the city was founded by civilians who fled during the Mexican Revolution, due to its logistic place among the mountains.
SAN JUAN TECOALCINGO, GUERRERO. DECEMBER 6, 2014. Rafael Hernández, Mauro's father, poses for a portrait on a Saturday morning, Mauro hopes to return to his father before his health deteriorates, but while it is illegal it makes it almost impossible to travel and visit him at home.
SAN JUAN TECOALCINGO, GUERRERO. DECEMBER 6, 2014. Mauro's 14-year-old nephew, Jorge Luis Benítez Hernández, sits on his donkey Pardito in Mauro's cornfield. Jorge intends to go to the US When he turns 18, he plans to return to Mexico to invest the money that would be saved in the US. Buying a couple of cows.
La Familia Hernandes de Guerrero y Queens in San Luis Potosi, SLP.
You can buy a copy of the newsprint by clicking here.
La Familia Hernandes de Guerrero y Queens newsprint. 1000 copies 2016
La Familia Hernandes de Guerrero y Queens newsprint. 1000 copies 2016
La Familia Hernandes de Guerrero y Queens newsprint. 1000 copies 2016