In my column This week's Consulta Migratoria® reflects on the benefit of having immigrated to the United States 35 years ago.
This is the column:
I still remember the first day I arrived in the United States 35 years ago. December 5, 1981, was the beginning of my new life in a country that I did not know and that, in a way, frightened me. I was 11 years old and everything was strange to me. I didn't know English. I had no friends. And my mother, who had left me in El Salvador when I was four years old, was almost a stranger to me, because I hadn't seen her for seven years. But my arrival in the United States meant a reunion and a new life with my mother and sister. After seven years, we were a family again.
This date always makes me reflect on my life and the opportunities and heartaches I have had as an immigrant in this country - as well as my greatest accomplishments. Thanks to coming to this country, I am a U.S. citizen, I made it through college, and I am a lawyer. But like many immigrants, the road was not easy. I had to face and overcome many difficulties.
I understand the desires for a better life and economic betterment that motivate millions of people from all over the world to come to this country in search of the "American dream", because that is precisely what my mother sought for her children.
I also know firsthand the effort and dedication of so many immigrants to overcome adversity, because I have experienced first-hand the poverty, family separation, sacrifice and discrimination.
My mother came to the United States in 1974 on a tourist visa, but remained undocumented. Thanks to the sponsorship of a family for whom she worked as a housekeeper, she obtained permanent residency and was able to return to El Salvador to find me and my sister.
But life in this country was not easy for a single mother with two children. I worked three jobs to support us and we lived in a house with other people because she couldn't pay all the rent.
As a child, I had a hard time adjusting. Because I didn't know English, my school dropped me back to the sixth grade, even though I had finished eighth grade in El Salvador. Frustrated and hanging out with bad company, I dropped out of school when I was 16 years old. I am, as they say in English, a "high school dropout".
I have worked as a waiter, gardener, cleaning offices and at a gas station. All noble jobs that I am not ashamed of, because they gave me enough to eat and live on. But eventually, I realized that I had to go back to school if I wanted to excel. I passed a high school equivalency test (GED) and entered a community college. I then entered St. John's University where I earned a bachelor's degree in finance with honors and a juris doctorate.
I specialized as an immigration attorney because I want to help other immigrants who are also seeking a better life in this country.
Today more than ever, with the uncertainty of the immigration policies that will be implemented in the new president's administration, I am mindful that the path I chose brought me here, where I can guide other immigrants and make a difference in their lives.
Every day, but especially today, I thank God for the blessings He has bestowed on my family, my mother for her vision, courage and sacrifices to give us a better life, and all the people who helped me along the way.
In addition, I am immensely grateful to the United States for taking my family in and giving us the opportunity to have a better future.
It is my heartfelt wish that you, my immigrant readers, can also achieve your version of the American dream.
