An Immigrant Rights Activist, Creative Writer, First Generation College Student and a Proud Latina.
Youth
&
Borders
Welcome to my page. You'll find essays, resources and a personal blog to generate conversations surrounding the featured topics.
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Undocumented youth arriving from the
U.S-Mexico border, immigration policies, and a
conversation on
mental health.
The work built by French artist JR peers over the U.S.-Mexico border at Tecate, Calif.,
Guillermo Arias/AFP/Getty Images
An immigration journey at a glance.
"Am I a fruit or a vegetable? I found myself pulled in both directions, one half still holding onto the seed, and the other half empty," is an excerpt from "The Controversy of the Avocado," I had written from the PEN America anthology series Dreaming out Loud: Voices of Undocumented Writers Volume 2. Throughout my childhood I realized that I was different, the reason being, I had broken the law when I was less than a year old in the eyes of the White American. I had crossed the U.S-Mexico border at the age of one, cradled under my mother's arms, and had been raised by the public schools of New York.
However, I began to question my identity whether I was more Mexican, but less
American or a combination of both. My main focus was to survive immigration policies left to right, yet I had neglected my own health along the way. Not only was my immigration status fluctuating due to the immigration policies being both implemented and rescinded, but my mental health was also at stake. "2 South," touches on the surface of events that lead me to be institutionalized, from educational standards to constantly being in fear of deportation and my future relying in the hands of an administration that expressed the dismissal of the undocumented community. My mental health resurrected into a form of creative writing and performance. To this day I continue to work on my own mental health status through a combination of coping skills and antipsychotic medication to treat my anxiety, depression, and bipolar II disorder.
DREAMing Out Loud — The Controversy of the Avocado
PEN America x VICE Media
How do our stories live in our bodies? In this visual project, student DREAMers explore this question’s inherent possibilities, using their own creative writing as a template.
Food for Thought: Word Soup
Survival Identity Creative Writing
Mental Health Undocumented
DACA Immigration Fears
Youth Trauma Education
New York Medication Bipolar II
Depression Anxiety
A group of Central American migrants climbing the border fence between Mexico and the United States, near El Chaparral border crossing, in Tijuana, Mexico.
Agence France-Presse/Pedro Pardo via Getty Images
The Roles of Immigration Policies in the U.S
Immigration and family separation has played an integral role in politics, oftentimes leaving these communities in the shadows. Immigration laws throughout the years have been established to show what is the “proper” way to integrate into American society. Yet, the perception is misleading, as the reality is that there are many obstacles that come forth when confronting immigration law. Many families who are going through this process either cannot get the necessary information from their home countries, many enter through the border as undocumented, risking to be separated from their families, and many become unaware as they are stuck in limbo throughout it all. When we discuss immigration, particularly at the border, we avoid asking an important question, who is profiting from human smuggling? Is it the traffickers themselves or is it the U.S ? The traffickers know how to prey onto the vulnerability of families wanting a better life. But how does this connect with the U.S economy? An important lead, follow the money trail. Enforcement officials running detention centers are able to profit from each detainee. It is a “modern-day” slavery system where detaines are paid for less than a $1 due to being deemed as “voluntary labor.” The use of immigrtion laws were there to help in the integration of foreign families to American society, not to create separation amongst families.
Deportations and family separations are the two biggest fears an undocumented person has. It has to be clearly stated that both family separations and deportations have existed in U.S history throughout the years. During the Great Depression, the U.S forced millions of both Mexican and Mexican-American families as being a cause for the economic crisis, this solution would create “new jobs'' for White Americans. In this time, many families suffered being separated by their loved ones, which can be compared to today's current events in the Trump administration's “Zero Tolerance Policy.” There is no doubt that even in Obama’s administration that deportations were at a record high, even so, minors were not under ICE’s radar, leaving them safe from deportation.
Sources: Film Border Hustle, TheAtlantic
“My Family” by Roman (age 9).
A nine-year-old named Roman created this picture. His aunt and his uncle were raising him as he had been separated from his mother for more than four years.
“My Family” by Geraldine (age 11)
The picture depicts the family of a young girl named Geraldine. She explains that her mother was holding in the drawing was herself. Geraldine exemplifies how families do stay “frozen” in time when there is migration.
“My Family” by Brian (age 7)
Brian did not draw his biological mother in the picture. He drew his grandmother Agustina and his two aunts, Sofia and Luna. Agustina, his grandmother, had been taking care of him for more than three years.
Source: Gabrielle Oliveira, Children and Youth’s Perspectives of the Other Side
Children &
Migration
The following gallery are drawings are from children who have been separated from their mothers and siblings, it depicts how children and youth depict their families .
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