New bar story (1 of 2): Cuban immigrant.

The other week when I was at a bar in a Cuban restaurant, I talked a bit with the owner before I left.

He came to the U.S. in 2003 via Mexico.

Basically, he said bye to his family, took a plane to Mexico City, hopped a bus to the U.S. border, and then went up to a border guard and claimed political refugee status, and then gave them his various IDs to prove it.

They registered him and asked him where his family was, and he told them the name of an uncle in the city where we live, and he's been here ever since.