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By Jake Herron

Sending money home is one way that immigrants show love for their families. For some local workers, that means a trip to La Mexicana, a store at 709 S. Roan St., Johnson City.

Carlos Martinez is one patron of the downtown store. Whenever he has enough money from his factory job, he sends as much as he can home. “In Mexico my dad is not working right now so it is important for my family,” said Martinez, who has been working in America more than four years.

Each week he sends home money to his mom, dad, brothers and sisters through a wire transfer service known as Sigue.

La Mexicana’s owner, Mica Cigarroa, a native of Mexico who has lived in Erwin 20 years, understands the need.

“I knew the people needed to send money home, so I called the companies and got the service installed,” Cigarroa said. “It is a good service. People in other countries can receive the money in just minutes. It is much faster than normal mail, which can take up to a month.”

Money transfers at La Mexicana are a popular activity on weekends, said Esmeralda Cigarroa, one of Mica Cigarroa’s daughters.

“There are probably at least 200 transfers each weekend,” she said. “The people who send the money use both cash and checks.”

The two main companies used at La Mexicana are Sigue and Intermex, the younger Cigarroa said. “There is a competition between the two companies,” she said. “The amount each company pays switches daily. Most people wait until the exchange rate reaches above $11, then they will send all the money they have saved.”

The way it works is the customer decides how much he wishes to send, and then clerks at the store will enter all the information electronically. Next, the customer will pay the amount set by the wire service companies.

One advantage of using these two companies is the charge for the wire transfer is only applied once, Esmerelda Cigarroa said. “Once the money gets to Mexico or wherever, the people pick it up there without being charged a second time,” she said. “Many of the other companies charge twice.”

For now, wire-service companies have a fixed fee for sending money such long distances.

To send $300 to Mexico the charge is $10, and other amounts are listed on a sheet posted in the store window. “Most of the customers at La Mexicana are from Mexico, so that is where they send money,” Esmerelda Cigarroa said.

La Mexicana is open seven days a week, in part because of the large number of wire transfers that customers wish to do on weekends, Cigarroa said. “The people work hard all week,” she said. “They only have Saturday and Sunday to send the money to their family members in Mexico.”

Many of the workers are employed at farms in Erwin, Cigarroa said. “They usually send the money after they get paid, so several of them will come in at the same time,” she said.

The store is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sometimes when the customers come in they are excited about sending the money, Cigarroa said.

“Some of them will tell us it is their daughter’s birthday, or they are building a house,” she said. “Sometimes a customer has a special reason for sending the money home [and] will have a big smile on their face. It feels good to help the workers.”

Money by wire

• Wire transfers paid through a network of thousands of agents in Mexico and Latin America.
• Offered through agents in numerous states in America.
• Rate information located on Web sites.
• Services in Spanish, both on the telephone used to wire money and on the Internet site.
  _{Source: Sigue and Intermex}