Martinez left his working-class Mexico City neighborhood at age 14 to toil illegally in the U.S., where he ascended from washing dishes at an uncle's restaurant in New York to running a gourmet kitchen in Boston. He was in the process of applying for a work visa with the help of his boss a few years ago when he came back to Mexico to help his girlfriend, another former immigrant, who had fallen ill.

Source: Los Angeles Times May 09, 2018 16:52 UTC