Standing together one day recently in front of the counter of the restaurant that the family now runs, Salvador and Sofia Frausto talked in Spanish about that year as Liliana translated for them. All six of the Fraustos stayed for two weeks in the same mobile home with Salvador's brother, his wife and their three children. Then the Fraustos rented a one-bedroom house. But they had no car, and they found that they needed more money than Salvador's summer tobacco work was bringing in. So the family, all of whom spoke little English, started selling doughnuts door to door.
Family links are key Getting to the United States is tough for many immigrants.
Staying here, facing a language barrier and a different culture means a difficult transition, said Nolo Martinez, the governor's director of Hispanic and Latino Affairs. Martinez said, ''because any other thing you're looking at may not be an easy transition if you don't do it within your family and within your language, within your culture.'' Howell Smith, a history professor at Wake Forest University, calls it creating ''nests'' for people back home to come into the United States. When immigrants come into the country looking for work, they usually come to the spot where they can settle best. The Fraustos, for instance, lent their support to those who came after them. One recent example in Winston-Salem was the arrival about 30 years ago of a handful of Greeks who started a restaurant business.