Migration story Extract: from Unforgettable Struggles with Amazing Outcomes

Violeta’s Godparents raised her as one of their own and with 4 older children around her she was the spoiled baby. She grew up calling her Godparents “ama y apa,” her mom and dad since that is what the older kids would call them. She was the baby, and had the attention all the time. Her only responsibility was to go to school and do homework that was all, nothing else to worry about. Life was good for a little Violeta. She had no knowledge that Maria was her biological mother, yes Maria did go visit her from time to time, and Violeta though she was just a family member coming to visit them. It was until Violeta was about 7 years that she started to read and she noticed the different last names, and she did not have the same as everyone else did. On a day that was too hot to be outside Violeta and her Godmother decided to stay inside and look over young Violeta’s schoolwork. As Violeta shuffled through the papers she found her Baptism Certificate and was quick to notice the names, “mom look they made a mistake on my last name they put the wrong one,” Violeta said in Spanish to her Godmother. Violeta remembers how her Godmother’s face expression had change. “It was if I had coursed in front of her, she had this surprised face expression and scared, she had no words for me.” As Violeta continued to read she saw that the names of Parents and Godparents were switched, and again she mentioned it to her Godmother, and this time her Godmother broke into tears. “My Godmother started crying and crying as if I had said something malicious to her,” Violeta explains. It was then when Violeta put everything together and came to the realization that her parents were her Godparents and Maria was her biological mother.

Her Godmother, Maria and herself planned a vacation that Violeta and her Godmother would head to the United States to stay for at least two weeks and then head back to Mexico. Like any other day in Tlaltenango Violeta came home from school and got her things ready to leave the next morning. She was excited she was going to visit a place she hadn’t been to before and she was going to get to spend some time with Maria. The next morning, “it was a cold morning, I remember the grass having a layer of ice on top,” Violeta mentions. They left with a group of people led by a “coyote” a paid man that helps immigrants cross the border.  They were all layered up with sweaters and jackets, some of them even had blankets as if they were going to the snow. First they were on a bus that took at least two days to get to the border in Nogales, Mexico. “It was a long not comfy ride,” Violeta says “not everyone that started with us made it all the way, some got off along the way and went back home.” After not being able to stretch right and not being able to sleep right Violeta and her Godmother finally made it to Nogales, where they were going to meet with Violeta’s uncle and Maria. Her Godmother called Maria to let them know that they were at Nogales already, and Maria told them that they were not going to be there for another hour or two. Which Violeta and her Godmother did not mind, they used the time to walk around a little bit and grabbed something to eat.

As the time went by, the small shops around the town of Nogales started closing and you could see the homeless gathering up the small amount of belongings they had ready to settle down next to a warm place and spend the night. All the “lismoneros” the people that begged for money trying their last tricks to gather as much as they could to at least buy themselves a slice of bread. Violeta and her Godmother headed to a small restaurant that stayed open late, as they waited. Violeta remembers how excited she was and how nervous she felt,” I remember there was a lot of questions running through my head like ‘what was Maria going to think of me? Is she going to like me? What if she doesn’t want me?’ a lot was going through my mind but it never came to my mind that it was going to be a long time before I would to get to see my Godmother again.” Violeta’s Godmother finally got the call that Maria had arrived. Maria easily crossed the border from Nogales, Arizona to Nogales, Mexico where Violeta and her Godmother were at. From there they told Violeta that her Godmother would meet them the next morning since her Godmother was not a U.S citizen she was going to cross with the “coyote” overnight.

 Violeta and Maria were both U.S citizens all they had to do was show the border patrol their birth certificates and answer a few questions. “As an eight-year-old it was scary,I had never seen tall, white police officers, and never been so close to a gun,” Violeta says as she continues to describe other event happening around her like people getting arrested for having fake papers, or being held on a cell for not having the proper identification. She remembers how it felt, it felt different from what she was used to, she did not understand what people were saying nor the exchange of words Maria and the officer had when it was their turn to cross. The officer just gave Violeta a quick glance, and that was it nothing more and they were good to go. They had crossed from Mexico to the U.S, and the only thing that divided them was a building, and that building made it impossible for immigrants such as Violeta’s Godmother to cross. Once they were in Nogales, it already was a different world for Violeta, a whole different language, and the small shops around did not seem as beat up as the ones just behind the building full of white officers.

On a Mcdonald’s that was just around the corner Maria and Violeta met with Violeta’s younger sister, that she was not used to being around, her uncle and his family, which Violeta remembered because of their long stays when they went to Mexico. Everyone was so happy to see Violeta and she was too, but was not able to express it properly because her Godmother was not there to tell her everything was going to be ok. Later that night they spent the night over in Tucson, Arizona where her uncle lived. The next day they just waited for Violeta’s Godmother to call to let them know she had crossed, but instead of getting good news she informed them that things had gotten complicated and she would have to retry again the next day. By the time her Godmother would retry to cross, Maria had to head back to Oakland, California where she lived with her family. Maria decided to take Violeta with her to start her vacation, and not waste time. From Tucson, Arizona Maria and Violeta had to get on an airplane to head back to Oakland, California, this was going to be the first time that Violeta was going to be on an airplane, and that made her nervous and scared. Violeta says she remembers how she even got sick of how nervous she was. “I was throwing up the night before the flight, and I had a fever all night long, it was something I was not prepared for.” Eventually Violeta got over it as she slept all the way back to Oakland. Once they arrived to California Violeta was introduced to a whole new world, a language and new technology.

As the days went by Violeta kept on asking about her Godmother, but little did she know that her Godmother was not going to be able to make it to the U.S to be with her. It took Violeta forever to accept it and even as the years went by she was deeply scarred. Imagine being a little kid having everything you could ever ask for, and then finding out that the people you thought were your biological family is not your biological family. It is traumatizing and something that no one should go through. Violeta had to go to therapy to be able to talk to someone to express her feelings, since she never had a good connection with Maria. Besides the therapy Violeta also had to take anti-depressant pills to help her not be depressed and not cry all the time. Violeta continued with the medication and therapy until she was about 14 years old. She easily made friends and quickly adapted and learned the language of English.

Now all grown up, Violeta recently went back to Mexico to visit her family she left behind. After not seeing them for 11 years she finally got to see them. “I was so happy, like I had not felt that type of happy and excited in so long, both my Godparents and I broke into tears when we saw each other,” Violeta says. It was a family reunion for them, last time they seen Violeta she was a little kid and when she went back she is a grown up going into her 20^th birthday. Violeta told her Godparents and her older siblings how much she had missed them and she caught them on up everything that has happened in her life for the last 11 years. How she got over her depression and get on with her new life, and everything Violeta is doing now is in honor of her Godparents, because all they want for her is to be happy, stay in school to graduate with a degree on something she loves doing. Which Violeta is doing she is in school, and communicates with her Godparents on every little break to update them on how she is doing and how school is going.   

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Extract from Essay 2:

Society is really good at stereotyping minorities, judging everyone based on the things they do and media so quick at catching thing that make the stereotypes go viral. Mexicans do not come to the United States to steal American jobs, they come do the jobs Americans do not want to do, they do it in order to provide for their families and to give them a better future. In Movies Mexicans are depicted as “cholos” thugs or gang members that are always running from the law and looking for trouble, while the white men are family people that have a well-paying jobs. The Mexicans and minorities are the criminals in the movies, but because this is the way the media shows them, society sees them as criminals as well .

Community call to action:

We have immigrants come from all over the world coming in to the United States. Them come looking for a better life for their families. Many of them are leaving behind their home countries because of the extreme poverty they are in, or because of the wars that are going on back at their home country. They come to the United States because it is said to be one of the best countries where their dreams can be reached and they come in search for the "American Dream'' only to find out that only true Americans can reach that dream. Undocumented people struggle the most, to get accustomed to the new country, they have to learn a new language and have education, that they most likely cannot receive, because they are nit American citizens. 

Which is not fair, they are willing to work double the time an American is willing to work just to give their families that dream they are in search of. Since they do not have the citizenship and the education they have to work the jobs that Americans do not want. The labor jobs where they get paid very little for all the hard work they do. The United States government should take into consideration the immigrants and the undocumented people, they should be given equal rights as the American citizens. They are willing to put in double the work and American citizen is doing and help the U.S economy stay stable.