The Journey to El Otro Lado...

I'm not going to lie. When I finished reading The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande, I sat in my chair and sobbed. I cried for all of the pain and anguish Reyna went through as a child. I cried tears of joy for the success she has achieved as a writer. I cried for the thousands of Hispanic immigrants who make the treacherous journey every year into the United States to escape substandard living and try to make a better life for themselves and their families. I cried knowing that not every immigrants story has such a heartwarming ending as Reyna's.

When Reyna is just 4 moths shy of 10 years old, her father Natalio decides to take Reyna and her older brother and sister back to Mexico with him. Each attempt more harrowing and arduous than the one before. On the second attempt, Reyna goes behind a bush to relieve herself only to find a man sleeping not far from her. As she moves closer to him, she realizes that he is dead and screams. The family is caught shortly after and taken to Tijuana. "I am grateful now that back then I was too young to fully grasp the extent of the danger we were in. I am glad I did not know about the thousands of immigrants who had died before my crossing and who have been dying ever since." (Grande 154) The third try is successful the 4 make their way to a second smugglers house, just over the border, who will drive them to Los Angeles. It's an uphill battle for Reyna and her siblings once they arrive in LA, but a battle that results in Reyna having much success as a writer, educator, and speaker. Had she not come to the US, it is certain that her life would be vastly different. 

Just a few weeks ago, the United States Supreme Court ruled against the Trump administration's bid to dismantle DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Under DACA, children who were brought to the United States without immigration status were granted temporary legal status if they graduated from high school or were honorably discharged from the military and if they passed a background check. With DACA in place, thousands of young people were able to come out of the shadows  "to enroll in degree programs, embark on careers, start businesses, buy homes and even marry and have 200,000 children of their own who are U.S. citizens, not to mention that DACA recipients pay $60 billion in taxes each year." (Totenberg)

Not only do DREAMers have the terrifying experience of crossing the border, but each day have to worry about all of the ways that they could get ripped out of the lives they have built here in this country. DACA gives these young people hope. Many DREAMers are brought here when they are so young, they don't even have a connection to the place where they came from. 

When we look out at our classrooms, into the faces of the children we are teaching, we must ask ourselves: Where have these children come from? What have they experienced in their short lives? What do they need from us to survive?

Totenberg, Nina. "Supreme Court Rules for DREAMers, Against Trump." NPR. www.npr.org/2020/06/18/829858289/supreme-court-upholds-daca-in-blow-to-trump-administration. Accessed July 5, 2020.

Grande, Reyna. (2012) The Distance Between Us. New York. Washington Square Press.