Hey visitor!

It was my parents who brought me over here. My dad was working over here 15, 20 years, so we moved from my grandparents’ ranch in Guanajuato to San Luis by the border. My mom always wanted to come here because of opportunities, but my dad always said no. My dad doesn’t like change. And it’s very difficult to move to another country- you have to learn the language, the laws.

But staying in Mexico was difficult too, because my dad and my mother were already working here. They thought it be better- not only for our future- but because they were always over here. They had to leave us with relatives and we didn’t see them very often. In Mexico, even if you work, you’re just surviving. Why work in Mexico to make $40 to $50 a week when over here you can get $250? Back then, we had to move from place to place; places that were dirty, full of roaches. 

I had been to the United States before. Every Christmas we came here to the mall. I was little, so for me it was the coolest thing- all the toys that are not in Mexico- at least, not where we were living-, everything clean, nice, big buildings.

When you’re a kid, you just think about fun, you don’t pay attention to anything.  

Well, eventually my dad got papers for us. I think we had to wait five or six years to get papers. I was so little- about four years old. When we got it, I think I was like nine. My parents did it- I don’t know how. I guess you just apply for it, but I don’t know all the details. We had to go to interviews and medical exams, I think in Juarez and Tijuana.

So, well, eight years after having papers we moved here, here to San Luis in Arizona.

The most difficult thing I guess was to leave my friends. When I moved over here, I was 16 years old, so I had people I had known for five years. We basically were like a family, and I couldn’t talk to them at all- back then we didn’t have cell phones or computers.  

When we actually moved across the border, we brought just some clothes in our van- just some essential things because we still had a house over there in Sonora.

Back when we first came over here, I felt like I didn’t have as much freedom. My parents always told us to cross at the corners- or, how do you call them? crosswalks- and to pick up trash, because the police might come and give you a ticket. You don’t want to get in trouble over here because it requires so much effort to come, it wasn’t worth the risk. We always thought my dad and my uncle were exaggerating when they said those things, but we didn’t take the chance. And I didn’t know how the schools were- you had to ride a bus, sign up for classes, have an ID. Plus culture is very different than in Mexico.

            After high school, I went to community college over there in Yuma, and then I came here to Phoenix, to go to ASU and get my degree in Criminal Justice. Over here, I applied for citizenship. It was important, well for me, because I want to be a police officer, so I have to have it. Plus, I couldn’t apply for some internships, if I didn’t have that.

At first, it was difficult to get citizenship. I had applied and I had to pay like $600. I had to provide things about myself like pictures, documents. I had to wait six months for processing. Then about right at six months, they increased the fee for the application, so they returned my documents saying I had to pay more. I had to send it in again to process for six more months. It took more than a year to get it.

            I felt happy when I got it because I had waited so long. I feel I can do more things now that I have it. 

            I’ve learned a lot of things from living in the United States. Now that I live over here I see everything- how could I say it?- I just have learned to be more opened-minded, to live with a more diverse population. I learned more about what’s going on in the world and to value what I have. In Mexico there’s not as much cultural diversity as here. It was really cool because I got to know a lot of other countries and I got to learn from a lot of other people and how they see things, just a different perspective.

            I would tell Americans to – how is that expression?- put themselves in the Mexican immigrant’s shoes. They should be more understanding of the situation. Don’t be selfish. I understand that most people just want the best for their family, their kids, for them, just to live in peace. I think everyone wants the best for their family, and if what’s best is to come here, that’s what they have to do.

            Over here is so different, less freedom - government has more control-, more materialistic, plus the language. All these things are hard for us Mexicans to learn. But in many ways I feel it was easier for our family because we were able to get papers. Other people have to cross the river or desert or live here without papers and that’s very difficult these days.

            About migration, I think that the U.S. has not been fair in that there’s so much discrimination about illegal immigrants. It’s hard to get papers. If you don’t make enough to feed your kids, if you don’t have enough to make a living, how can you wait four, five, six years to get papers? Plus, how can you afford it? They should make it easier for people who are already living here to become citizenship- I mean, citizens. Oh, and also create more- how do you call these things?- programs where they allow people to work here and go back.

            If I were still in Mexico, I think maybe I would be working at some crappy job, maybe still living with my parents, probably married. I’m glad to have come here because I have my education; I have more opportunities to be successful here. But in part, I’m less happy- I don’t have as much family. I’m away from my country. I still think Mexico is a great country. I don’t go over there as much as I would like because I don’t have enough time. I feel like I’m at home when I’m over there, like a fish in water. In the U.S., I don’t feel the same way. I’m Mexican; it’s always going to be my home.

            I didn’t agree to come, didn’t want to come here. But if I were still living over there, of course that’s what I would do.”