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Hi @taylorswift! I wanted to tell you a little bit about my family history and about how trump’s recent tweet about deportation scares me. My family came illegally to this country. If my mother were to tell you her story there’s no doubt in my mind that you would applaud her for her bravery. My dad was coming in and out of the country to work to send back money to my mother in Mexico. She got tired of waiting, they owed a lot of debt, she had a lot of medical bills. So she did what any other mother would for their children, she sold their home, paid off some of their debt and paid a coyote to cross her and my two older sisters (7 and 2 at the time) without my dad knowing. She risked her whole entire life for this moment. Luckily, my mother arrived to San Diego safely with my sisters after crossing the bridge. She took a cab and told him to drive her to my dad’s work. She showed up to his work and told him she was here to stay. She wanted a better life for my sisters.
9 months later and I was born in Anaheim. Being the only person in my family who is a citizen was scary. I learned about what being undocumented meant at a young age. While other kids were excited to go on vacation to mexico or out of state, my family couldn’t. I would never tell them my family was undocumented because I was scared they would be taken away from me. I’ve heard a lot of scary stories from my family about getting deported. Since I was 9 years old I lived with this fear and I still do, as a graduate student. Over 10 years later and I’m still scared. I feel like that 9 year old girl praying my family wouldn’t get taken away from me.
My sisters were able to get DACA which I’m so grateful for. My mom had to miss a lot. She hasn’t seen some of her family members for over 20 years. Her mother passed away and she couldn’t even go to her own funeral service to say goodbye. She’s made a lot of sacrifices so that my sisters and I could live a better life than she did.
Currently, my mother has a case with a lawyer who’s trying to help her. I am so scared she will get deported before she even has the chance to become a resident. I graduate next summer and I am so scared she won’t be able to see me graduate because I do this for her. Everything I do I do in her name because I want her to be proud of me. I’m the first in my family to graduate from college and I’ll be the first in my family to graduate with a Master’s degree. I’m pretty proud of my accomplishments. I will be graduating from the University of Southern California.
I know it’s not much and you won’t see this but please please please help us in some way. And by us I mean the millions of undocumented families living in fear, some of which are your own fans. I am so grateful and don’t take for granted the privilege I have being born in this country. As a queer Latina I am so happy you’re supporting half of who I am, and it would make me happier if you could also support my family, support every undocumented individual living in fear.
