I was two years old in 1988 when I left Guadalajara, Mexico with my mother to join my father in the United States. I don't remember the long car ride or when the world I was barely learning about drifted away. My mother also left her own world behind -- but her amazing courage led her to decide that my health, safety, and future was more important than her own.
I grew up in Los Angeles, CA and was teacher's pet by the first week of kindergarten. By third grade, I had mastered English. My new world consisted of chess tournaments, rollerblading, and homework. My mother successfully fostered an environment where I felt loved, nurtured, and intellectually stimulated. In fact, I was not absent or late to school even once, not even by a minute. That year was 1994, and while my mother and I were busy working on my latest school project, California Governor Pete Wilson was busy with a project of his own.
Pete Wilson rode the waves of anti-immigrant sentiment during his re-election bid for a second gubernatorial term by putting his weight behind Proposition 187, a ballot initiative which threatened to cut social services for undocumented immigrants in the state, including kicking students like me out of the K-12 system. I remember attending a massive march in Downtown Los Angeles, and the word Pete Wilson escaping people's breath with anger, disappointment, and even dismay. At the end of the day, I understood that Pete Wilson did not like me and apparently, people who looked like me or shared my experience. It was my first exposure to politics, and in my own simplistic terms, I understood that I had spent the afternoon re-affirming my existence.
Proposition 187 passed in California, but it was later declared unconstitutional. The letter my elementary school sent home reassuring us that no child would be reported to immigration was relieving for my parents. In retrospect, I remember how much my parents rewarded me for being an exemplary student. My room was always filled with stuffed animals, art sets, and books -- all rewards for my accomplishments. They wanted me to believe I had a future and that no law was ever going to take away the knowledge I gained.
Proposition 187 also moved thousands of Permanent Residents to rise to the occasion and become Naturalized U.S. Citizens, my father included, and became a political force of their own. Latino civic engagement rose, and with it, our power increased.
Now, I am part of a mixed-status family. I can't vote, but the members of my family who can, vote wisely. They weren't fooled after the 1994 debacle, and they won't be fooled in 2012. The GOP's Presidential candidate front-runner, Mitt Romney, has recently welcomed the endorsement of Pete Wilson. He is now the honorary chairman of Romney's campaign in California. Who do they think they're fooling?
In 2010, California's Latinos rejected gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, whom also received an endorsement from Wilson. We had the power to stop Whitman in our state, and we will put a halt to Romney. Recently, Arizona also stopped Russell Pearce, who worked closely with Kris Kobach, architect of Arizona's SB 1070. Romney has also received support from Kobach.
Politicians like Wilson and Romney should fear people like me. They already started running. I carry with me the memory of their wrongdoings. This also goes for the other side of the political spectrum. The Obama administration has pending issues with the Latino community that they need to answer to. And I won't stop at just remembering. I will commit myself to ensuring my community remembers and acts. This is a call to action; do not forget what we worked so hard to gain, but do not forget that we have a long way to go.
Obama ~ 1 "forced" deportation, every 79 seconds, during 37-month presidency
Unable to vote, and illegally in the U.S., she says politicians should "fear people like me". She is angry at both political parties for not giving her what she thinks she deserves, and says there are many other illegal immigrants just as angry as her.
So who wants another amnesty?
Our history in this country is multi-faceted and often paradoxical...according to her profile, she has a degree from UCLA...she is probably doing great things now, things some of us only dream of doing and guess what? She did it while the rest of us sat here ranting on her blog post.
"she is probably doing great things now"
"Assumptions don't help us when trying to have a conversation about a complex issue like immigration"
Walk your Talk?
What do you think "students like me" means? She was illegal then, and nothing in the article notes any change since in her status. Universal amnesty was granted in 1986 covering 3 million illegal immigrants. The odds are slim her father gained status in a different manner. Since she didn't learn to speak English until third grade, and California spent many millions of dollars on bilingual education, the odds are also slim she was not in such a program. Parents who choose to raise bilingual children shouldn't throw the cost on the taxpayers. Who cares if she came in illegally, or over-stayed a visitor visa illegally? Either way she is illegal, and her father is complicit.
Politicians do not have to answer to illegal immigrants. If she is working in the U.S., she is doing so illegally. As for the time spent by people making comments, note that SHE had time to write an article. This is what amnesty does for the U.S. Encourages even more ungrateful, arrogant, and angry illegal immigrants.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/21/immigrants-face-discrimin_n_1291692.html?ref=latino-voices
> creating jobs for 13 million U.S. Citizens, with NO JOBS trying to feed, clothe, shelter & educate Their Children
"An investment" better spent ~
> to detect, detain & deport, 11.2 million illegals in the USA, unauthorized to work in the USA
A man with a family loses his farm in a bankrupcy, so he has to move to town off the farm. He moves into a vacant house that is for sale without talking to the owner or paying rent. The owner tries to get the family evicted but is unable to do so. The man does get a new job and after some time is able to get a place of his own, however, when he moves out with is wife, two of the daughters decide they don't want to move from the house because they have grown to like living where they are. They continue to live in the house without paying and without permission of the owner. One of the daughters comments about how living in that house for free in the town opened up opportunities she would not have had otherwise. The other daughter says she doesn't know how she could survive if she had to leave the house even now.
I hope we can find a way to uphold the laws of the land and at the same time help people who are less fortunate. I believe in the ability of the American people to to both.
"Legal Immigrants", entering the USA, 1 every 38 seconds, since 2001, are authorized to work in the USA.
PEWHispanic.org ~ 7.5 million illegal Mexican Nationals, unauthorized to work in the USA, send $21 billion USD, a year, back to Mexico
How does this "contribute" to the USA Economy?
The USA, gladly gives $4.2 billion, a year, to "unauthorized to work" illegals ~ http://www.treasury.gov/tigta/auditreports/2011reports/201141061fr.html
At least, until HR 1956 passes the U.S. Congress ~ http://www.samjohnson.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=260191
Want the rights & benefits of U.S. Citizenship? Then apply for Naturalized U.S. Citizenship
Or, for the FREE & EASY way to U.S. Citizenship ~ have Mexico apply for USA Statehood, making it the USA's 51st State.
I also think her name is fabulous though.
The Latinos became Wilson's Scapegoats and his double-cross will not be forgotten...
Even U.S. Citizens workers are lucky to get that
Demographic changes and reapportionment will only increase the size of the Democratic majority here.
But I encourage Romney to throw away as much money here as he can. It will make beating him in other states that much easier.