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/NorthernIowan
April 10, 2017
@NorthernIowan
Volume 113, Issue 49
northerniowan.com
Opinion 3 Campus Life 4 Sports 6 Games 7 Classifieds 8
INSIDE THIS ISSUE Columnist responds to critics 3 Relay for Life 4
JACOB MADDEN News Editor
Alejandro’s Story
Across the United States, there are people who live in fear of being forced from their houses, separated from their families and sent to a country they have never known as home. They are among the 11.4 million undocumented immigrants living in the US, as estimated by the Department of Homeland Security. They come from across the globe and, primarily, from the western hemisphere. Each of them come to the United States with their own story.
Two undocumented students at UNI, Alejandro and Marie, chose to share their experiences with the Northern Iowan (NI). Their stories are featured below. Ashley Sanchez, junior psychology and Spanish major, is president for Panthers for DREAM Iowa. Panthers for DREAM Iowa is the UNI chapter of the state-wide organization DREAM Iowa, which advocates for undocumented immigrants in Iowa. “The US is where you come to live the American Dream,” Sanchez said. “But a lot of Latino immigrants and immigrants from around the world — they
“Immigrants have this thing where, after living so long in a different country that is not yours, you don’t feel like you belong to the country that you live in,” Alejandro said. “But you also don’t feel like you belong in your home country because you don’t know how it is anymore.” Alejandro is an undocumented immigrant studying at UNI who asked to be called Alejandro to protect his identity. Alejandro first came to the United States at age 19 with his father to send money to his mother in Mexico who was ill
and get it over with,’” Sanchez said. “My parents were undocumented for 19 to 20 years. My dad had to hire multiple lawyers to help him out in his case just to prove that he should stay here. My mom had to go to women’s prison for six months.” Sanchez said her mother was detained for working without proper documentation. Sanchez said undocumented immigrants work the underpaying jobs that citizens don’t want to work. These jobs often pay minimum wage, which means working multiple jobs to provide for the family, Sanchez said. In 2012, former President
something happens and you have to leave, you still have to pay the people, and paying here is easier than in Mexico with a [small] salary.” For Alejandro, it didn’t necessarily get easier once he made it to the US. Alejandro was driving in a parking lot where he bumped into another car. Police who were already in the parking lot investigating something else noticed Alejandro hit the other car. “They asked me for my license, which I don’t have,” Alejandro said. “Then they started to ask even deeper
Marie’s mother was in love with the man with whom they were going to live in the US. “When we got here, he kind of just...changed,” Marie said. The man they lived with often argued with Marie’s mother and kept Marie and her mother from leaving too often. “That was my first translating experience, because I learned a lot of English… [My mom] was trying to tell him to shut up, and I said, ‘I got this!’ and I said ‘Shut up!’” Marie recalled.
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Softball update
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Barack Obama issued an executive order that would loosen the deportation of children from the United States under qualifications previously set forward by the DREAM Act. The DREAM Act was a bipartisan bill introduced in 2001 that, had it passed, would have provided temporary or permanent residence to minors brought to the United States by undocumented immigrants, provided that they arrived in the United States before age 16 and met several other criteria, according to a CNN article from 2012. See AFRAID, page 2
JACOB MADDEN/Northern Iowan
“Alejandro,” an undocumented UNI student, writes while in an interview with the NI.
questions which I refused to answer because a police officer shouldn’t ask you about
Marie estimates she was four at the time. Marie moved from house to house staying with different friends, both American and Latino, until she and her mother moved in with her aunt who lived in Waterloo. Marie and her mother did not move back to South America, instead staying in the United States to avoid the violence of her home country. “[My mother] grew up in a time period where she never knew if her brother would be coming home alive,” Marie said. “She
your legal status.” See ALEJANDRO, page 2
didn’t want to go back to that. “Everywhere you go around the world, you hear, ‘If you go to the States you’ll have better opportunities, you’ll have a better life, stuff is better there,’” Marie said. “Whether or not that’s true is debatable, but that’s what you hear.” Marie’s aunt moved to Georgia, but Marie had settled in the Cedar Valley and in her school district, so she and her mother stayed. See MARIE, page 2
Marie’s Story
JACOB MADDEN/Northern Iowan
“Maria,” an undocumented UNI student, sits while being interviewed by the NI.
don’t realize that the American Dream will only work for you if you are acknowledged as a human being.” Sanchez said a lot of immigrants want to be documented and want to have legal status. The process is expensive, according to Sanchez, and the amount of money an immigrant has drastically impacts whether or not an immigrant is granted a visa, residency or citizenship. Money can also play a role in speeding up the lengthy process to get citizenship, according to Sanchez. “A lot of people say, ‘Well, why don’t they just get their papers
at the time. He described his first journey to cross into the US. “I walked six hours and then waited three hours in a bush by a farm,” Alejandro said. “I waited three days in the house for someone to drive us North.” Alejandro’s father had family living in Michigan and he had a job lined up. Alejandro started working two jobs within three days of arriving in Michigan. “You get here, you start working,” Alejandro said. “You have to pay for the trip, we’re talking about $3,000. If
“My mother and I came here like most immigrants do — very legally, with visas and everything, because my mother was originally going to marry someone in the United States,” Marie said. Marie is an undocumented immigrant from South America studying at UNI. She asked to be called Marie to protect her identity. Marie and her mother’s visas expired years ago; this is the most common reason why immigrants are undocumented in the United States.
Movie review, Panther Portrait