It Was A Tough Time, But We Got Through It All.

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Never Forget Where I Came From

My name is Nilsson Estuardo Serhay Hernandez, and I’m 19 years old. I’m from Guatemala, from the city of Antigua. I miss my home town a lot because ever since I came here to the United States, I haven’t been able to go back. That is because I had an illegal status in this country. I could always travel there, but I couldn’t come back to the United States. I don’t really remember much about Guatemala, but I do remember going out with my family to visit the ancient Mayan temples. I remember I would always love going to those temples, running all the way to the top of the stairs and seeing how high we were. Another thing that I remember was going out into the jungle with my cousins. We weren’t really allowed to do that, but we would once in a while. We would climb trees, look at animals, cherish nature, and just have fun. I [have] this Mayan medallion that has been passed down since a long, long time ago. 

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The center piece is a Mayan native named Te’qunmaehn. There’s stories that he was a leader of a rebellion. (3) He lead many Mayans against the Spanish people because he felt like they were being treated unfair. Because of that, he was seen as a hero to the Mayan people. My grandpa gave me this a few days before we left Guatemala. He told me to never forget where I came from, that’s why I like it so much. It reminds me of who I am, where I came from, and my family in Guatemala.

We’re Going On A Long Trip

We got to America by Airplane. [We] obtained a visa that gave us a certain amount of time we can stay in this country. (4) My mom brought me here because before we came, my dad was already living in America and my mom would come to visit him. But then she thought, “Maybe we could start a life--- in the United States of America.” I was five years old, so I didn't really have a choice. I remember I would always ask my mom, “Where are we going? Where are we going?” She would tell me, “We’re going on a long trip to see your dad.” My father came to America because of the violent and economic corruption of Guatemala, also because I was born and he wanted to supply our family. In Guatemala, a ‪‪‪‪lot of people threatened to kill my father if my grandfather didn’t step down from being the mayor. He was a really good mayor, but when you're in office, you're taking a risk for your family. W‪‪‪‪hen I was maybe about 11 months, I was being carried by my mom and she was walking down the Guatemalan streets with my auntie. All of a sudden, these two guys approached them with guns and said, “Give me everything or we’ll kill your kid.” My auntie instantly fainted, she couldn’t help my mom at all, she just fainted. It was all up to my mom to stand up to them. She wouldn’t let go of me even though the guys were trying to take me away from her arms. All she kept yelling was, “Take everything from me except my kid!” She kept fighting them and kept resisting. They eventually took everything, except me. When I think of that story it shows me how much my mother loved me and how much of a hero she is. If it weren’t for her, I don’t know where I would have been right now. It also shows the type of violence there is in Guatemala. And so she just thought that moving away from that place was the best thing for us.

They’re My Blood

At the time we came to America, my dad wasn’t really prepared to go out and get a house or an apartment. We had to live with some family members for a year until my parents were stable enough to get an apartment. From there they ended up getting a house, but it all started from other family members helping us out. What kept my family united was the fact that that we always want to keep going. We don’t want to give up, we shouldn’t give up. All these obstacles might come in our paths, but there’s always solutions to that. So yeah, me and my family-- we’re really close. I think that’s a hispanic trait of families. I miss my family [in Guatemala] a lot. Even though I haven’t seen them in years, I can’t forget about them, they're my blood, they're my loved ones. We still talk to each other like we’ve seen each other yesterday.

I Would Come Home Crying

My school experience here in the United States was a bit hard since I didn’t know English when I first came here. I remember in first grade, I had this teacher who disliked me because I didn’t know English. Now that I think back at that time, I do feel like she was a bit of a racist. My parents would tell me that when they would come in for conferences, she would say, “Why is he going to this school? He should go somewhere where they speak Spanish.” My parents didn’t really know how to react. I remember I would come home crying because I couldn't talk to other kids. I've always been a social kid and not being able to communicate with people was-- was really saddening. I do remember having these other Spanish speaking students that talked Spanish and English. [They] helped me out a lot more than the teacher did. So yeah, I mean it was really hard. We did end up moving schools because of that to a more friendly Hispanic school named Cesar Chavez. (5) I was taking ESL classes there, which helped [me] out a lot. By 5th grade, they gave me this little diploma like, "You have English down." So I guess that was when I was really used to the language. [Now] I'm so used to speaking English that I do a mixture of both [languages] sometimes. It's called Spanglish.

We Didn't Have A Normal Life Anymore

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My family and I have been illegal, except my brother who was born here. To start it off, I didn’t even know I was illegal. I didn’t know at all. I-- I was too young or my parents never really told me. Since we were living here and my parents had jobs and they drove, we just had a normal American life. Until an incident happened that made all of us, especially me, realize how our status was in this country. This whole incident was when I was a sophomore in high school. It was a regular day, my dad was going to give me a ride to school. As we were about to pull out of our driveway, four ICE patrol vehicles immediately surrounded us. (6) I was-- I was really confused and scared. I was like, “What the heck just happened?” (sigh) While we were still in the car, just my dad and I, he told me, “Nilsson, I’m probably going to be away for a while.” I was confused, you know, it was a lot to take in at the moment. He was like, “Just know that I love you and your mom and your brother. And-- and don’t be sad, everything’s going to be fine.” I told him, “What’s going on? Who are these people?” He said, “These are ICE officers and they somehow found out about our illegal status here in the United States." That was really hard. I remember my dad went to ask our neighbor if they could take me to school, but I didn't want to go to school-- or do anything. It was like a massive hammer where it just hit me. As we were leaving, I remember looking back and seeing my dad get handcuffed and thrown into the ICE vehicle. I remember trying to be smart about it and I took their license plate down. I thought maybe it could help identify where my dad is or something. After that, I told my mother what happened and she couldn’t believe it. She-- she immediately began to cry over the phone. Since that happened, my mom knew that we couldn’t go back to that house. My younger brother and me were staying with my auntie for awhile while my mom was living with a friend because she thought that maybe they were looking for her instead. That really broke us apart, it was a really hard time. My mom, she was thinking of the future and she thought that maybe we just all had to go back to Guatemala. She was being haunted by these people. We didn’t-- we didn’t have a normal life anymore. Honestly, that incident made me change the way I saw immigration laws and these ICE officers. I detested them. In my mindset I was thinking, “Why did they come for us?” you know, my parents are hard working people, they pay their taxes. They do everything this country asks us to do and when there’s other people out there that really aren’t doing anything, “Why are they coming for us?” For that time I did feel like an outsider, because that was a big reality hit.

It Was All On The Line

We decided to take legal actions and so my mom went to immigration lawyers. Along with the papers that asked for forgiveness [for] overstaying our visit, she filed that she has two children who will be without any support if she leaves. We had to go to court, it was my father and my mother who were being tried. It was very scary waiting for the judge's final verdict because it-- it was all on the line. It was either we were good to stay here in the United States where we founded a life, or it was going back to Guatemala where we had nothing really. I want to say maybe five months after, we received notice that we have been forgiven, but with that forgiveness we also had to pay a fee of $1,800 per person. [Then] we had to proceed to get our fingerprints taken, get our social security card, and all that stuff. So that’s the whole process and after that, we just had to wait until we received our papers. Everything turned out for the best. It was a tough time, but we got through it all.

There’s Nothing To Worry About Anymore

My immigration story, I would have to say would be impacting. It really impacted everything in our lives and when I have children I can tell them, “You guys are lucky you didn’t have to go through this.” My favorite part about living here is that you have an opportunity for a good life. In Guatemala, it’s really hard to get that opportunity. A lot of people might have different views on this but this is my view about immigration; it should be approached differently. The whole breaking families apart, why would you want to do that? This whole country was founded by immigrants, from Europe, from Asia, everywhere. I know it is a big issue but we should really take in consideration the damage that we are doing. I’m always going to be Guatemalan, that’s where I was born. But of course, I’m American. I‪‪‪‪t was only five years that I’ve been in Guatemala. The rest of my life, I’ve grown up here. For the most part, I’ve always felt accepted. But now that I’m in this status of being legal, there’s nothing to worry about anymore. I feel-- I feel like I’m at home.

FOOTNOTES:

1. Hernandez, Nilsson. Family Photograph, circa 1999. Provided 23 November 2013.
2. Hernandez, Nilsson. Photograph Taken by Marissa Paananen, circa 2013. Provided 17 November 2013.
3. An ancient Mayan story: The Spanish tried to convert the Mayan to their religion and began destroying all of their history. Te'qunmaehn did not agree with this, so he gathered an army that would stand up and fight the Spanish. However, the Spanish won this war, which is why Spanish is now the dominant language in Guatemala.
4. Resident's Visa: Granted by the United States for an immigrant to live in America for a certain time period. If they are still living in America after this time has expired, they have become illegal. 
5. Cesar Estrada Chavez: (1927-1993) A Mexican-American labor leader who used non-violent ways to fight for the rights of migrant farm workers; an important figure in Latino history. (Source)
6. ICE: Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

STORY FACILITATORS:

Marissa Paananen, Shelby Kersten, and Ber Moua.