Personal Narrative: Immigrants

The night when my family fled Argentina for a new life, the sky was dark and the breeze was crisp. I still recall the smooth, salty air that swam through the tangles of my un-brushed hair as we sped off to Ezeiza International Airport in my quiet reverie. My father was young, and had not yet descended into an insanity that would come to consume my life. My mother on the other hand, was aged with a profound sadness and riddled with an eccentric apprehension of a foreign land. We arrived at the airport with spared time and waited anxiously to aboard our flight. I glanced at my mother and watched my baby brother suckle her breast. "Mama, adonde vamos?" Mama, where are we going? I asked. "Vamos a un lugar mejor de aqui." We're going to a place that’s better than here. Finally, our time had come to board the plane. Looking back one last time, my father knelt down on the floor and bid farewell to our motherland with a kiss, right there in the middle of the airport. It was a seal on our former life and it marked a march into the unknown.

The reasons as to why immigrants aspire come to the United States vary greatly, as “some are drawn by a promising labor market”, others are enticed by
the “prospect of earning a better living”, and others seek to “escape prosecution in their country” (Hagelskamp 717). In addition to this laundry list of factors contributing to the egression of entire families from various countries across the world, such as Mexico, India, and China to name the top three countries where immigrants are coming from (Batalova and Terrazas), the appeal of quality education and abundant educational opportunities available for children in the United States are simply more than enough reasons to lure struggling parents across U.S. borders, whether legally or illegally.

The numbers are clear; according to the Census Bureau, “immigrants comprised 12.5 percent (38.5 million) of the total U.S. population” as of 2009, and out of those 38.5 million U.S. immigrants, “11.1 million were undocumented”. Further, “19 million people ... report having Hispanic or Latino origins” as of 2013 (Batalova and Terrazas). Yet, these statistics fail to convey the struggles, hardships, and injustices constantly encountered by undocumented individuals with children in America. Particularly, children of illegal immigrants are indirectly denied the basic unalienable right to public education, attributed to local school districts and magistrate judges circumnavigating the law.
Children of undocumented parents often unexpectedly stop attending school. At first glance, we are prompted to question why this is. But upon further investigation, it is evident as to why a parent without legal documentation would take their child out of school and migrate to another part of the state, or even to another part of the country after considering that “local school districts”, like those in Albertville, Alabama, “[still] implement procedural obstacles to access public education” (Nguyen). Despite access to public education being constitutionally guaranteed, these particular school districts may require government-issued ID from parents or guardians upon student registration. The inability among undocumented parents to provide certified identification of their children or themselves is a prime example of forced exposure of immigration status. Take the case of the 2011 exodus of Hispanic immigrants from Albertville, Alabama after federal judge Sharon Blackburn reinforced Alabama immigration laws as an example. The particular law that was reinforced allowed “state and local police to ask for immigration papers during routine traffic stops” (Robertson), which further permitted schools to acquire the immigration status of students at registration. Consequently, “1,988 Hispanic students were absent from school [following Blackburn’s ruling]” (Robertson). The fear of possibly being deported or detained prompted undocumented parents to hastily remove their children from schools and flee their homes. These children seemingly caught in the cross-fire between conservative federal laws and their parents immigration status suffered the most damage. Their education was interrupted and the comfort of their familial lives were abruptly torn apart. The educational hiatus indirectly forced on the children of undocumented parents as a result of enforcing strict immigration laws may leave the heaviest imprint on the lives of these students, however. It is through primary education that students are guided with the intellectual tools necessary to assimilate into productive members of American society. Children become exponentially proficient in the English language in the primary school years, learning how to read, write, and speak properly; children learn the basics of math and science in primary and secondary school, cultivating a foundation for more advanced learning in postsecondary education and learning later on in life. Simply put, a child of an undocumented immigrant will not acquire these basic tools to become productive members of American society if they are directly denied an education due to immigration status, or if they are indirectly denied an education based on laws that make it difficult and risky for undocumented parents to send their children to school.

Furthermore, the notion that acclimatization into society in the U.S. requires adequate education among all students becomes substantially more apparent when considering the specificities of federal law. According to a 2014 fact sheet issued by the U.S. Department of Education, “States and local educational agencies are obligated to provide all children – regardless of immigration status – with equal access to public education at the elementary and secondary level” (U.S. Department of Education). This law is derived from the 1982 supreme court ruling Plyler v. Doe. Why then, is the question of whether children of illegal or otherwise undocumented immigrants are entitled to public education still a pervasive issue today? The implementation of immigration laws through loopholes in the federal system, such as Blackburn’s 2011 ruling for example, may be a root of the matter. By law, children of illegal immigrants are entitled to at the very minimum, a primary and secondary school education. Yet rulings like Blackburn’s successfully undermine the effectiveness of this law by making it perilous for illegal immigrants to send their children to school, in the fear of discovery of their immigration status.

As an immigrant myself, and like the students in Albertville, Alabama, I am limited by federal immigration laws.
Upon my debarkation in the United States, I had the window seat and I awoke to the scene of our plane landing in JFK Airport. My mother and I walked off the plane and over towards a currency exchange booth to trade in our paltry of pesos for American dollars. As a young girl I did not quite yet understand why she suddenly appeared sickly while tucking away a twenty and four singles into her bra. It wasn't until years later when I came to the realization that she was truly exchanging her life for my own ambiguous future and education at that booth. We met up with my father and younger brother in the parking lot and began our walk, our march into the foggy country that awaited
us.