In 1996, when I was only 5 years old, my father went on a business trip to the USA. He spent 3 weeks here with his company, where he traveled to a lot of different places in the country. He fell in love with America just like the rest of us.
When he returned home, he told my mom that America held our future and that we needed to move there. For years, he tried to find a way to come here with a legal status through his company. He never stopped trying.
When Bush was elected president in 2000, my dad told my mom that now a Republican was in charge and if we were to go to the USA, we needed to do so as quickly as possible. The decision was made and they sat down my 6 year old brother and I (9 at the time) and told us we were going to Disney. Not only were we going to Disney but we would get to finally see snow and ride an airplane. We were thrilled.
Had I known better, I would have stopped to think of why would my parents sell everything we owned - everything from our apartment to our appliances as well as our car - and have us all live with our grandmother for a month. I didn't even think twice because in my mind, Disney, snow and traveling in an airplane was all that mattered. I didn't understand why my mother cried at christmas and why my grandmother cried too. I didn't understand why my father told us we needed to learn another language. I didn't understand why at new years, they made a toast to my mom, dad, brother and I and why afterwards, my mom and grandmother proceeded to cry once again. Another giveaway would have been our entire family, from both ends who don't get along, showing up to see us off (although because there was an issue and we had to be relocated to another plane that left an hour earlier, we never got to say our goodbye and give our last hugs to the people we love so much). None of it made sense to me but it didn't matter.
I can tell you everything I remember from January 31st, my first day in America. It was a happy day. It was exciting for my brother and I. My parents however faced obstacles and decisions. We didn't have enough money for Disney. We couldn't contact the people whose house we would be staying at after we left Orlando. My parents had a little over $1500, a hotel room for 6 days, a rented car for 8 and two kids who they had to disappoint by not taking them to Disney. Not only that, but it had been cold in Florida for people who came from Tropical weather. We had to buy winter clothes and money was a problem.
We left Orlando 6 days later and proceeded to head up to Georgia. My parents knew the address of some people who were very distance relatives by marriage but they didn't know whether or not they still lived there. It was dangerous maneuver but it was our only option. Lucky enough, they still lived there and they helped our family get started with our new lives.
It took a lot of help to get started in America. Jobs that required a lot of work but didn't pay well, donated clothes because we couldn't afford to buy clothes and our whole family of four living in a tiny little room because that's all we could afford. I didn't complain. I liked America. I liked school. I made friends. I didn't see anything wrong with our lives.
Eventually, life got easier. We were able to get our own place and started living like a normal family. Everything seemed to be looking up until my father was at work installing something on a someone's roof and he fell and broke his neck. That was a lot for our family to deal with. We'd only been here for 2 years and now we had to deal with a father who might or might not live. He did live but the damage done changed our family's lives forever.
After that incident, life went back to normal until Sonny Purdue was elected Governor and he had it out for us. He made life more difficult than it had to be and took away any rights we had at all. In Georgia, we became criminals just by existing. Immigrants in Georgia can't get drive, can't buy a house (somehow miraculously, we were able to buy ours), can't buy a car and can't even trust the police. Police blitz often happen in the middle of the road where everyone could watch someone's be shattered just because we didn't have any rights. It's tough.
I didn't start feeling the pressure of being undocumented until Sonny Purdue came along. He made me see myself as a criminal. It led to a lot of self-worth issues. When I turned 16, I couldn't drive like all of my friends so I decided to take matters into my own hands. There was only once thing Sonny Purdue couldn't take away; my rights to my own body. I felt like it was the only thing I had left. With that in mind, I starved myself. I lost so much weight and went through so much because I honestly believed that I deserved it.. That I am a criminal.. That this is only happening to me because I am a terrible person. Starving myself was my own personal punishment. This went on for 6 months. I was down to 106 lbs when someone reached out to me and connected with me. We just cried and told each other that we weren't monsters or criminals and with that in mind, I was able to start looking at myself differently and not believe what Sonny Purdue wanted my to believe.
My birthday is in July. I will be 18. My GPA is a 4.0 and I feel like I'm destined for greatness but every time I think about my future, it all comes back to me; I don't have much of a future without the Dream Act. That all my parents sacrifices for my brother and I to have a better future are fruitless.
With Obama in office, I finally feel a kind of hope that I haven't felt since I was in 5th grade and Sonny Purdue was elected governor. I don't hate myself because of Sonny Purdue anymore. I don't think I am a monster or a criminal. Instead, I believe that this will make me stronger and I will be able to appreciate my future once I am documented.
I won't settle for anything other than the bright future we deserve. We are not criminals or monsters. We love this country. We are Americans. We are part of the future and our time is now.
What a story! I also live in Georgia, therefore I understand how hard things must be for you and your family. What part of Georgia are you from? By the way, when DREAM ACT passes we should totally go together and slap Pudue like you said on your other post. Will you be graduating high school this year? Are you planning to go to college? If you have questions about going to college in Georgia feel free to PM me. I already graduated college with my Bachelor's, so I might be able to give you some advice on going to college in Georgia. I hope we can keep in cotact because there are not that many people from Georgia on this forum.