Good morning professor Armando Vazquez-Ramos,
This is Jacqueline Flores Gonzalez. We talked last week, and you helped me to re-enter the U.S. after my father entered Mexico by mistake. I’m sorry it’s taken a while before I emailed, since I jumped back into work immediately and my students direly needed me at the end of the school year.
I work at a school, and it felt great to come back and feel that my role and presence there is appreciated and needed.
But as I promised, I wrote the following brief reflection to detail what happened and how this experience has changed my life.
I was traumatized and scared to death, but I clearly recall a heartless comment that is burned into my memory: “You’re going back to Mexico!”, exclaimed a woman who didn’t know me, snickering while I pleaded with the officer walking me out, as I tried letting him know I have nowhere to go, and that he needed to understand that having left at 7 years old, Mexico is no longer a place I know.
This is the reality for Dreamers like me, living in a fragile lifeline of longing for a home we’ve left behind while holding on to the life we've built in the United States.
But it’s thanks to organizations like the California-Mexico Studies Center (CMSC) that I was able to receive advance parole to return.
It was through the help of this organization that I was reminded how important community is for everyone.
Thanks to my husband’s friend seeing a YouTube video from CMSC and sending it to us is how I was able to reach out to for assistance.
To my surprise a total stranger picked up my call and directed me to what to do and who to talk to.
This kind act and feeling of support is the strength that got me through to face USCIS officers again.
Through Professor Vazquez-Ramos’ referral, Immigration Officer Bañuelos showed me once again how our community is filled with people full of understanding and kindness.
After explaining to the officer how my dad missed an exit and crossed to Mexico accidentally, he looked into my case and assisted to ensure I found my way back home.
I was impressed with the way the people around me looked at my case with humanity, understanding the full story of how a drive to drop off my parents to enter Mexico via the Cross Border Express (CBX) for their trip turned into a nightmare.
Being treated like a liar, like a walking criminal, like a person with no rights to even explain my case, all of this made my existence feel illegal.
Fortunately, it was once again the support and help from MY community, my friends, my family, my Latino community and my fellow immigrants that made the difference.
It’s organizations like the CMSC that give us faith and keep us going, impacting our lives in significant and the best ways possible. I’m forever indebted to the kindness of Professor Armando Vazquez-Ramos who picked up my call, a call from a total stranger, that showed me community is everything and changed my life forever.
Sincerely,
Jacqueline Flores Gonzalez
