Introduction

STORY FOUR: Living in a Culture of Fear
*This story is a composite, based on true stories.
Luisa Garcia went to school in a rural community outside of Grand Junction, Colorado. Her father, José, was a migrant farm worker from Mexico. Despite having five years of legal permanent residency status, José worked long hours harvesting fruits and vegetables in the fields and hadn’t been able to learn English well enough to pass the required English competence exam, which would have enabled him to obtain his full U.S. citizenship status. As a result, every day Luisa lived with the fear that her family would be deported and she would be left alone to fend for herself and her younger brother, Fernando, both of whom were U.S. born citizens.

In her eighth grade class, Luisa was a top student and served as a leader and role model for her classmates. When Luisa heard about a massive demonstration in Denver,to support immigrant and worker rights, she decided to help organize a student walk out from her school, also for immigrant rights. The walkout was one of numerous student walkouts in which immigrants and advocates took to the streets of many U.S. cities to protest proposed immigration laws and support immigrants on May 1, 2006. The day, proclaimed “A Day Without Immigrants,” was part of a response to proposed federal legislation known as H.R. 4437, “The Border Protection, Anti-terrorism and Illegal Control Act,” which would raise penalties for illegal immigration and classify “illegal aliens” and anyone who helped them enter or remain in the United States as felons. Over 75,000 protestors gathered with American flags and signs supporting immigrant workers in Denver and throughout Colorado, with millions more across the country.

As the days of the marches, rallies and protests approached, a climate of fear was created within immigrant communities across the United States. In some cities immigrants were fired for missing work to attend a rally. In others, rumors of roundups and arrests to punish those who had attended protests spread creating a culture of fear throughout the country. In the days following the May 1st walk out, Luisa, her family, school and community were dramatically impacted by the stories broadcasted by the media. Luisa and her friends received anonymous threats and phone calls telling her and her family to go back to where they came from. A few days after the walk out, Luisa was called into an administrator’s office at school about the walkout and was threatened that she could be barred from attending graduation, her mother could be fined for her truancy and could go to jail for up to three years and her family could be reprimanded or even deported.

Luisa began to have nightmares and woke up at night with sweat running down her neck and back. She started acting out in school and no longer engaged in after-school activities. She went from being a top student to not caring about school – almost completely withdrawing and giving up. With the increasing anti-immigrant sentiment within her community, Luisa felt like more of an outsider. She spoke a different language at home and felt embarrassed and confused by her differences – she wanted to fit in and be like other kids, but she wanted her family to be safe and accepted by the community as well. Luisa ignored attempts by school counselors, social workers and school-based health center staff to reach out to her because she felt they couldn’t understand what she was going through.

Luisa felt overwhelmed, anxious and feared what might happen to her, her family and loved ones. She felt a sense of desperation and didn’t know where to turn. The staff at the Latino community center heard from some of her comadres (close friends or kin) that she was struggling and they reached out to her, understanding the complexity of the issues she was struggling with and working to create a sense of self esteem and cultural pride for her and other youth through their youth center and drop in services. However, their outreach wasn’t timely enough. Out of desperation, fear of abandonment and the pressure of having to keep it together without her parents, Luisa went home one afternoon only a few weeks after the incident and committed suicide, leaving behind a family and entire community in mourning amidst an already difficult climate.