“So thank you for choosing our
futures in your present”. As Elizabeth concluded, the crowd roars with a big
round of applause after such a moving speech. She smiles and wipes the tears off
her eyes as she steps down from the podium, reaches her table and sits down
after hugging her mother.
Elizabeth is a 21 year old girl who
had to deal with a traumatic event that changed her life forever: seeing how
her family was slowly torn apart by an unjust and broken system. To confront
such tragedy, she has taken it upon herself to stop such disgrace to befall
others in her situation, the deportation of immigrants from The United States.
She was 13 years old when that
fateful event happened. As Elizabeth was in her English class taking the SRI
test, a runner came into her classroom saying that she was needed at the main
office. It was weird to her since it was Wednesday morning and the only thing
out of the ordinary that she had done was to arrive 40 minutes late to school
that day.
“As I arrived to the main office, I
saw my aunt standing there with a pale face. She looked at me sternly and said,
“I do not know how to say this, but… your family has been taken by immigration
and want to pick you up too.” As my aunt finished, I started crying
uncontrollably while she hugged me. It was all so fast and hard to take in.”
ICE arrived and picked her up to
take her and her family to Miami to be processed. “We were treated like
criminals the whole time we were under custody. We were not allowed to go to
the bathroom alone and were constantly watched by somebody. It was humiliating
and horrible.”
At the end of the day Elizabeth’s
family was released under two conditions: Every member of the family was forced
to sign a document saying they had to eventually leave the country and one of
the members had to stay with the immigration police to be deported immediately.
“My father offered himself for our sake. That was the first member I saw being
taken from me. I was heartbroken.” she said, as calmly as she could muster.
Elizabeth’s family lived in fear and
constant hiding for years after that until the time arrived for another member
of her family to be taken from her: it was her two older brothers who made the
choice to leave. “They had both graduated already and with no opportunity to
progress as people because of the document they signed years earlier, they did
not see the point of lingering any longer. I was fortunate to be young enough
during the signing of the papers that I was not forced to sign them.”
As only her mother and Elizabeth
remained, feelings of sadness and depression began creeping in. “It was awful
because I continued on with my life being known as a loner trying to get by
when my whole life I had been associated with two other individuals who were
always there for me.”
Although Elizabeth dealt with a
rough teenage, she did not let these hard times get to her. As a matter of
fact, she turned these into strengths. She eventually got a job and kept going
from there where she made it possible to juggle 3 jobs while at the same time
paving her way to college. “It was really hard to deal with all 4 things at
once, but I did the best I could. Still, I felt that there was more I could
do.”
During her college application
process, Elizabeth met an individual who was part of a group called “Global
Education”. “Due to my circumstances as an immigrant and everything I was doing
I was offered a scholarship to reward my hard work. This person was also a member
of a club called EQUAL, who gets involved in dealing with and making awareness
of issues that plague our community on a daily basis.”
Among the many topics that EQUAL
dealt with, there was the one about immigration. They delve into the subject
from basic human rights being violated to immigrant families being torn apart
because of a fragmented U.S. political system. “When I saw that this club was
involved in this matter, something deep within me urged me to join. I knew I
could not do anything for my family, but I could try to give a voice to those
that are currently going through what I was going through and lend them a hand
in some way.”
With this conviction fueling her,
Elizabeth joined EQUAL and has been going around different states where a good
portion of the population are immigrants to share her story in conferences set
up by the club and let them know that they are not alone, they should not give
up, that they matter and above all else that it is possible to triumph even if
the world seems to be against you. “This journey has not been easy. However,
knowing that there are others with a story similar to mine out there that could
use a few words of encouragement and guidance to keep going is something I
cannot deny them. If someone would have done the same for me, to inform me of
what I can do and what I can become, my family would still be together today.”
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