Straddling Two Worlds

Esteban Ortega grew up body surfing on Pacific waves in the small Mexican town of Ensenada south of San Diego. He never imagined his own son might someday ride snowy slopes instead of white-capped waves.

Ortega has never skied, but he and his wife, Nubia Sanchez, and their 10-month-old son are carving out a future in the Colorado Rockies. Ortega, 30, is a Community Service Officer for the Breckenridge Police Department with plans to attend the police academy. And he was recently named a High Country Hero by the Summit Daily News for working to integrate Summit County’s immigrants into the community.

Sanchez works as a parent educator for the Family and Intercultural Resource Center (FIRC), part of The Colorado Trust’s Immigrant Integration program. A former preschool teacher in Mexico, Sanchez meets with parents to help them develop their young children’s cognitive, emotional and social abilities.

Ortega and Sanchez moved to Summit County in 2006 and gave their baby a popular American name: Evan. The name echoes his father’s Spanish name, but carries with it new dreams for a new generation. “We would like to raise Evan here because it’s beautiful. And we would like to see him have a career and be a community leader,” said Sanchez, also 30.

Ortega always wanted to be a police officer. He attended two years of college, but got a rude awakening when Ensenada’s police chief warned him never to be an officer there. Rampant drugs created too much corruption. And Sanchez had grown weary of a two-hour commute to her teaching job. Married since 2003, the couple decided to move far from their beloved fishing village.

“We miss Ensenada, but there is no work there. We have good jobs here,” Ortega said.

Summit County has been declared a “New Ellis Island.” From 1990 to 2000, the county’s population increased by 83 percent while the immigrant population exploded 722 percent. Ortega is a member of FIRC’s Global Summit, a group of leaders who meet monthly to promote intercultural understanding among new and established community members.

He is fluent in English and says all newcomers must learn the language to fully participate in their communities. He also warns some immigrants to halt destructive behavior. “There are a lot of drinking problems. Some Hispanics drive cars with alcohol and drugs. They feel loneliness here and they take a wrong turn.”

Ortega and Sanchez also work with a group of Latina mothers called Mamacitas to educate them about their rights. According to Ortega, many Latinas are afraid to report domestic violence because they fear contact with the police.

Straddling two worlds can be painful. Ortega has encountered locals who openly resent immigrants. One local man told Ortega he couldn’t give him a citation since he “wasn’t born here.” On the flip side, after federal immigration officials recently conducted raids in Summit County, false rumors implied that Ortega and Sanchez had reported illegal immigrants to authorities.

Despite some intolerance on both sides, Ortega remains an optimist. “I think we’re going to be fine,” he said. “But we have a lot of immigrants here, so we are going to have to learn how to live with different cultures.”