Walking the Loneliest road: A story of immigration

In need of the DREAM Act

By Andres Gonzalez

[Editor's note: A student who is also an undocumented immigrant and did no want his or his family's names printed is referred to by his first name only.]

Every year, thousands of immigrants come to the U.S. to follow their dreams. Against all odds, kevin, 17, immigrated from Honduras alone.
He was driven to make the dangerous journey by just two things: he wanted to meet his mother and study law.
The last time Kevin saw his mother he was only two years old. In 1993, his mother, Darkis, moved to the U.S. seeking a better life, never to return to Honduras again. For 15 years, Kevin did not speak with or see his mother once; left only to imagine what she might be like in an old, worn photograph.

“I saw my mother’s photo constantly, but after a while I wanted to see her in person,” Kevin said.

Immigrating from a wealthy life in Honduras
For most of his life, Kevin lived with his father, a wealthy business man in Honduras. He was told that one day he would be able to visit his mother in the states, though his father had no intention of ever letting him leave the country to find her.
“My dad thought he was going to be able to separate my mother from me,” Kevin said. “It’s like trying to cover the sun with one finger… he couldn’t.”
At age 17, Kevin decided to make the journey to the U.S. alone.

Taking the bus towards the land of dreams
After convincing his father that he would go to the U.S. to find work rather than his mother, Kevin was taken to a bus station in Cholutecas, Honduras, and given $300 dollars for his trip-just enough to pay his way on a series of buses that lead from Honduras to Texas- stopping in Guatemala and Mexico along the way.
Kevin said he traveled north on a “bus of immigrants” for six days with 30 or more people, all of whom were also heading to the U.S. For many, like Kevin, it was their first time traveling anywhere outside their home towns.
“I had to remind myself why I was going to the U.S.,” Kevin said. “To become better in life … That gave me force.”
Despite recent efforts by the U.S. to crack down on illegal immigration, Kevin got lucky. His bus managed to cross the U.S.-Mexico border in California without running into any border patrol officers.
“[The border] was a deserted area with a big fence, but there was a path in which cars passed [into the U.S.],” he said, adding that along this path there was a check point where U.S. immigration officials were inspecting vehicles. As the bus drew closer, he said, he grew more and more nervous.
“I went with my faith,” Kevin said. I kept saying ‘this is going to pass, this is going to pass, all is going to be good.”
For some reason, Kevin’s bus was let through without an inspection. He said it is probably because its exterior appearance mirrored a “luxurious” tour bus and the officers probably thought there were no immigrants inside.
“We kept passing, and passing and there was not any obstacle,” Kevin said. “It was surprising.”
Kevin arrived in Houston where his aunt helped him arrange to travel to Wheaton, MD., where his mother lives.
One day before Mothers’ day, Kevin met his mother for the first time.
“My mother cried, hugged me, kissed me,” Kevin said. “I felt great seeing her face and being able to call her ‘mother.’ Now I can feel her warmness and share with her all the moments that we have not been able to share.”

In the basement of his Maryland home, Kevin enjoys playing drums with the guidance of his stepfather.

A law education might not be possible
He moved in with her and her new husband soon after. He said once he got used to his new environment, he shifted his focus to his second goal: “I want to study, prepare myself and go to the university,” Kevin said.
After visiting this university, Kevin said he knows he wants to come to the University of Maryland to prepare himself for law school.
Knowing that law school is demanding, Kevin said he is trying to prepare himself early by doing his best in his High School classes. Yet, no matter how well Kevin’s grades are, college may still be out of reach for the undocumented student- a reality that worries him deeply.

Deportation is always behind you when you are illegal
Unlike your average teen, undocumented students must grapple with their legal status in addition to every-day stress. Kevin, for example, knows deportation is always a possibility.
“You don’t know the day that [deportation] could happen,” Kevin said. “But God, I hope it never happens to me.”
Affording a college education also poses a problem for students like Kevin. “One of my fears is that I might not be able to afford my career and because it’s too expensive not be able to reach it,” Kevin said.
Darkis, who work as one of the few female painters in Maryland, said she will try to help her son “look for all the financial aid available” to pay for his education, but for students without a social security number or a green card, the options are often limited.
“Education is the legacy I will give Kevin,” Darkis said. “Every child who wants to study should have an opportunity to do it,” Darkis said.

Could the Dream Act help Kevin? Of course it could.

State and federal legislators are considering legislation, such as the DREAM Act – which would open the door to federal financial aid for undocumented students – and a state bill that would allow undocumented Maryland residents receive in-state tuition. These legislations could help students like Kevin if they are approved.
Though Kevin is optimistic about his future, he said he is beginning to think that enrolling in and affording a college education will be more difficult than emigrating alone from Honduras to Maryland.

“I have always heard that the U.S. was the country of dreams; the country where you can build castles,” he said. ” But I guess people do not always tell the truth.”

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Posted by admin on Sep 4 2009. Filed under National News, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry