Immigration At Los Angeles International Airport

It has been 11 years since we have arrived to Los Angeles, California. I can still remember the feeling of when my father had said to us that he we would be moving to a far place to try to find better jobs for my mother and him because with the two jobs my father had and the washing and ironing of other peoples clothes my mom did was not bringing enough money to support my sisters and me and did they wanted to provide a better life for my sisters and me. Mexico was such a poor country that my parents could not see themselves make enough money to support my sisters and me, let alone see us get a better education. So my parents decide to migrate to the United States with one of my mother’s brother. We arrived in Los Angeles, California on

My father was deported to Mexico in 2011 when I was only eleven years old. He left behind a wife and three children. The first few months were extremely exhausting, I was devastated. I went from coming home to my dad everyday to having him ripped apart from my family without any warning. Before he was deported, he was incarcerated for two months. The first time I visited him I felt intimidated by all the guards standing with guns and serious faces.

On November 25, 1999, The Coast Guard rescued 5 year old Elian Gonzalez from the Atlantic Ocean. Elian was found on an inner tube clinging to life with dehydration and hypothermia. His mother, Elisabeth Brotons, along with several others drowned on their trip from Cuba. The INS placed Plaintiff with his uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez, who lives in Miami, Florida. On November 27, 1999, Plaintiff's father, Juan Gonzalez, sent a letter to the Cuban government requesting that his son be in Cuba. The letter stated that the Plaintiff was taken out of Cuba without his father’s consent. On November 29, 1999, Lazaro Gonzalez signed and submitted an application for asylum to the INS on behalf of Elian. Shortly after, another application was submitted with Elian’s signature.

My mother, three brothers, two sisters and I began to travel to places to collect all the required documents we needed in order to prepare for our appointment, which was to take place in Ciudad Juarez. I was more than thrilled to go places and tell people I was soon leaving to the United States, because that 's where everyone wanted to go and we were the lucky ones. On the other hand, the rest of them were leaving everything behind – their family and friendships. I didn 't have anything to lose because they were all to me; they had their lives there and now an unexpected letter was taking everything away. The truth is my father had petitioned for us just for the sake of it, thinking we wouldn 't get approved but destiny proved other wise. The plan my parents envisioned was taking this opportunity and returning to Mexico the following year with our residency status

As much as I loved living in Mexico as a child I always missed my father, I spend 6 birthdays, 6 Christmases, and 6 Father’s days without him. Even though he called every single day, my sister and I needed him to be in our lives physically. I know it was also very difficult for my parents to be apart and my dad suffered deeply but he was sacrificing to give us a better future. In the summer of 2007, when

We waited two years and nothing happened, our father was very sad and confused about what he could do now. At the same time, he knew there was nothing he could do; it was all up to the immigration center of Sweden to decide our future. Then one day, it was our Holliday called Eid, my mother had her friend with her children over at our house to have a dinner with us, and she told her that they are about to move to United States the next month. My mother was very happy and excited for her friend and asked her how she did it. My mother told her that my fathers had been in Sweden for five years now and still nothing was happening. My mother’s friend told her she needed to apply at the United States immigration center that was located in Moscow and try to see if we would get accepted. Then the next day January of 2004 my mother and I went to the United States immigration center, and we applied for the permanent residence ship to any state. After two months, we received a call from the United States immigration center that we are scheduled for an interview; we all were very excited and happy that we might move to United States, to a country that is known as the dream land and freedom. When we give our interview the person who was interviewing us asked us why we wanted to go to the United States. The answer was very simple to all of my family; it was education, freedom

When I was in 9th grade my dad almost got deported and it shattered my heart. He spent almost a year in an immigration detention center and my family went through a challenging time. My mom wasn't able to work so we had to borrow money from friends and relatives and live on our bare necessities. I was so worried, I thought my family would have to move back to Mexico. But thanks to God he was able to get his US residency. Last year, I was also able to obtain my residency through the Program DACA, which stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. DACA is a policy passed by President Obama which lets certain immigrants be able to stay in the country. It was an amazing experience. I finally felt like I actually belonged here. Every day I try to do my best in everything because I know my parents struggled to come to this country to improve my lie. I’m pleased to say that I will be the first person in my family to attend college. This means so much to me because I want to be a Nurse Practitioner, which will allow me to help others. I’ve chosen this career because I want to be able to volunteer my services to those who can’t afford the necessary

They let my dad go;They knew he was an illegal immigrant and still let him go. Maybe the officer felt sympathy towards us to let my dad go back. But, I can’t imagine the world without my dad he’s the one who always make sure that I know my value lets me know i’m going somewhere even if I don’t know it yet. If something would’ve happened that night where would I be? Would be another kid making stupid decisions and blame it on my broken family? How would my life be if my dad wasn’t there to see me grow up? I’m truly blessed to be with my

Somehow, anything, ever, happened bad to me, I really like to be in United States, just at that time I was illegal immigrant, I don’t have any papers. So you have to watch on your back all the time

I have been in the United States since two thousand eleven, I was twelve years old. A year later the Obama administration passed a law to guard me, an undocumented immigrant child, from being sent back to Guatemala. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program was my ticket to a successful future. My trip here was not an easy ride and I do not know how I survived when I think back to it. That story will be saved for another time, but first let me mention my past and how I came to be.

I Jonny Garcia Esquivel, 14 years ago, decided to enter the United States with the help of my sister Angelica Garcia Esquivel. At that time I did not have resources to pay someone to cross me. That's why my sister paid someone to help me cross the border, at that moment I was still a minor. With only my 16 years I ventured to cross the line in a closed van (van white). The van had no seats in the back, so that in this way the trunk out wider. I remember we were like 8 people and we came lying and hiding in the trunk of that truck. At the end we were unlucky and border patrol caught us. They took an office was about 8 or 9 pm I think, where officers proceeded to take my photo and fingerprints. Then they asked me my name, and of course I did

As I developed, I began to notice certain things, such as barely seeing my mother because she worked long hours, my father being constantly stressed about paying bills and praying he never got pulled over. My parents advised me and my siblings to never to open the door to strangers, especially policemen, even though we had not done anything wrong. They later explained to us that our family had no “papers” to be here in this country. Slowly I had an epiphany, we were a family of low resources living illegally in the United States. Initially, I was not sure how this could affect me in the future, or how I even felt about it. At the age of one, I was brought here to the States, something I had no control over. So I started Kindergarten in America just like anyone else would. Teachers described me as charismatic, I had a lot of friends and school came so easy to me despite not having any help at home. Little did I know that later in my life my legal status would hinder my education, privileges, and my residence in this country. As the years went by, I seldom visited the doctor because that was a luxury my family simply could not afford. My friends turned 16 and rapidly got their driver's permits, and then their license, something I knew I was ineligible for and loathed getting asked as to why I have not gotten mine yet. Being raised by loving and supporting parents that always push me to excel has taught me

I’m an immigrant. I was born in Mexico and it was only until my parents decided to come to the United States that I am where I am. My mother tried to cross the border to come to the United States for the first time when I was still in her womb all by herself as my father was already in the Unites States working in order to provide for her in the way that he wasn’t able to do so by staying in Mexico. My mother was caught by immigration and was sent back. My mother was very disappointed because she knew that if she didn’t get me to the United States some way or another I wouldn’t get very far in life by staying in Mexico. My father returned back to Mexico when I was born and it wasn’t until I was 4 years old that they decided to try to cross the border once again. Although I was only 4 years old I remember the whole experience as if it was yesterday. The amount of fear of getting caught by immigration and having done everything for nothing was always in the back of my mind while going through the whole experience. Up to this day nothing has ever been as terrifying and nerve-wrecking as having to go through that whole experience especially for a 4 year old child but I will forever be grateful for the bravery and strength that my parents had to gather in

In 2010 my dad, sister, and I moved to America. I did not wanted to leave. My sister told me that everything was going to be okay and that I was going to a better school. All I wanted to do was to stay and play with my cousins and help my mom with my little brother. I was very angry with my dad because he was forcing me

When I first moved to America, on our second day in San Antonio my parents went to HEB to gets some groceries for the apartment. They were talking about what to get and they saw a passion fruit something we don 't have back home. One of the associate won’t stop staring at my parent, because how loud they were, you can literally hear them from accross the store and the HEB on I-10 is pretty big. In my family, we talk with our hand all over the place so it looked like my dad was about to put his hand on my mom, which he would never do. but when people started gathering around us and the cop saw what he was doing, they came towards my dad and arrested my dad. My Father was so confused on what was going, couldn 't understand why they put him in cuffs. We had to call our caseworker to explain that he is not at all abusive and he is no threat to my family or mother and this was all a