60's Latino Militant Now Pursues a Personal Quest

The man once called King Tiger, a description fitting for one of the most militant of radical Latino leaders of the 1960's, now walks with a cane. Almost forgotten by new generations of Latinos clamoring for immigrant rights, the man, Reies López Tijerina, faces his own immigration dilemma.

Hobbled by diabetes and years of self-exile in Mexico, Mr. Tijerina, born 79 years ago to a family of cotton pickers in South Texas, spends his days at a community center here, or in a modest two-room house across the border in Ciudad Juárez, searching for a way for his wife to return legally with him to the United States. Immigration authorities have refused to grant residency to his Mexican-born wife, Esperanza García, whom Mr. Tijerina married more than a decade ago in Mexico.