Mexican cemetery
(Photo : Pinterest)

Many Mexican migrants who built a life and career in the United States choose to return home and to die in their homeland according to an article published in Gulf Today.

Many Mexican migrants lived in the United States today. At present, it is estimated that there are more than 11 million Mexicans who live in the country. For some, living in the U.S. is only one of the ways they support their families and relatives.

However, despite the increasing number of Mexican migrants in the country, many have still retained their strong connection and ties with the country. In fact, some Mexican migrants decide to go home and spend their remaining days in the place where they were born.

Jesus Tovar Sanchez from Guadalajara, Mexico is one of them. At the age of 20 years old, he and his cousin left Mexico and looked for a job in the United States. His wife followed him years after.

Sanchez built a life and a career in the United States. He worked as a dishwasher when he arrived in the country and because of his hard work and perseverance, he later owned on a radiator company and bought a house in San Gabriel Valley.

It is also in the United States where he and his wife raised their six children and later became U.S. citizens. 

However, even though Sanchez has amassed his fortune in United States, still he chose to die in Mexico. In an interview with him in April of last year, he said that his wish if he dies is that God will take him home to Guadalajara, Mexico.

Sanchez suffered from an advance kidney disease and he was hoping that his children will honor his request.

On Dec.12 last year, Sanchez's body remained in a funeral home in East Los Angeles while his family is working out the paper work to return him home to Mexico as he had requested before he died.

Likewise, the famous balladeer superstar Jose Jose also did the same. Half of his ashes remained in Miami, his adopted hometown, and the reaming half was transported to Mexico and was later buried next to his mother.

According to his daughter Sara Sosa, the reasons why the ashes were divided into two places was because her father grew up in Mexico, but he flourished while in Miami, his adopted city, and that helped him escape addiction. This is also the place where he met his wife.

In a previous study of Pew Research Center, it was found out that there are more than 175,000 Mexicans who come to the United States each year and every year thousands of bodies are cremated and shipped back to Mexico.

With this, the Mexican government is offering up to $1,550 financial aid support for its citizens who want to have a burial in Mexico.

However, the official at the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles, Felipe Carrera, said that many Mexican families in the United States take out loans and sell some of their possessions to cover the expenses despite the financial support from the Mexican government.