Thousands of Mexicans are being sent back through Matamoros — bringing skills that could reshape Tamaulipas’ economy

MATAMOROS, Tamaulipas — Jorge Luis Loredo Salazar was born in Matamoros, but he barely knew the city when he returned to it this spring.

His family took him to the U.S. before he was a year old. He was living in Kansas, where he built a career working in automotive mechanics and started a family, before being deported in April.

Now 41, Loredo is back in the country where he was born — while his wife and three children, ages 17, 9 and 3, remain in the U.S.

Since arriving in Matamoros, Loredo has been living with relatives, looking for work and assembling the Mexican documents he needs to rebuild a life in a country that, despite being his birthplace, was never really home.