Meet Angelica
"I was happy in Mexico. We lived on a self-sustaining farm with my grandma. Everyone in my village had a farm and we grew all kinds of stuff. We had all kinds of animals. We learned things in Mexico that other kids do not have the ability to know because in America you live in the suburbs and don’t have to worry about where your food comes from. In Mexico, you picked the corn and beans and took care of the animals. I always look at that as a really amazing experience as it gave me a different perspective on food. We had all the freedom in the world. We would be out, walking around, playing with friends all day and all night and we would be safe. It was fun to visit the big city. It was fun to go and hitchhike. We would literally stand on the side of the road with my grandma and hitchhike from where we lived in the little village to the big city which was called El Valle. It was the highlight of our days to go and visit the big city. Because we got to eat things we had never eaten before in the village. We were so excited to eat Bimbo, the bread, because we didn’t have bread, we only had tortillas. It was exciting to go to the festivals in the city. I was really happy there, we went to school there, we had friends there, we knew everyone. Although I missed my parents, I didn’t feel like they left me behind because I was with my grandma."
" I remember the first time I went to a grocery store. I was amazed, because there was this big box and you could literally have whatever you wanted without having to travel hours to get it. Which to me was a culture shock. This is how enclosed in our own little bubble in Mexico we were. When I went to school, I didn’t know the language. It sounded like people were talking gibberish. I couldn’t communicate with them and I didn’t know what they were saying. It was a really hard adjustment. I went to an all white school, so my sister and I were forced to learn English pretty fast. We learned over the span of a few months. We were able to start communicating. Getting used to the kids here was also pretty hard. I feel like kids were really mean, like they didn’t understand we came from a different culture and spoke a different language. They didn't s seem to see how hard we were trying. Thankfully there was one other girl who spoke Spanish in my class. So I kind of relied on her to show me around and help me translate. And I remember being really thankful to have someone to talk to. "
" Through my work, I have met so many people who were undocumented. I didn’t realize that so many people were OK with talking about it. It’s like coming out, coming out of the shadows for us. Seeing so many people being so comfortable with talking about their immigration status, I realized I didn’t have to be alone for so long. Now I feel a sense of community, a sense of belonging. Because one of the things about being so open about it is that it makes you feel like you belong."
"When the election happened, something in me just snapped. I was really angry. What do you do with that anger? You could do something constructive or you could do something that is harmful, or do nothing. I decided to do something with that anger and channel it into change and create some sort of system to help people help themselves."
" DACA brought 800,000 people out of the shadows. Now we have to make sure that we keep pushing for comprehensive immigration reform. And if those 800,000 people can really unite and really fight for immigration reform, then I feel that we have a really strong chance of making it clear that we are not going back in the shadows again. We’re going to stay here."
" It’s really hard to feel like you belong to a community, to a country, when you can’t say who your true authentic self is. It’s really hard feeling like you don’t deserve status – feeling like you’re wrong, like you did something bad. But we do belong here and we are going to stay here."
"If you really want your country to strive forward and be at the top, you have to make sure you are including everyone who wants that for the country, especially immigrants. We all want America to be a better country, we can’t exclude people who want to help us get there. We can’t kick them out. Because you are kicking out people who want to make America great, who want to make America better. We all have that in common, why not come together and make it happen."
"The most traumatizing experience of being undocumented is just the fact that I can’t leave. Because I can’t come back, or the chances of coming back are very little. Especially now when it has become more dangerous – you could die. It is one of those things that I wouldn’t wish on my own enemy. To feel so helpless."