Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and other Democrats met privately in the Capitol with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly. (Jan. 17) AP
I have lived in Kalamazoo since I was nine years old. I love the Michigan outdoors, even now, when everything is frozen. I like to take pictures at night of plants, lakes and open areas, and explore how light works. I’m fascinated with trying to show things that are not visible — maybe because of the life I’ve had, as an undocumented kid growing up here. In some ways, I was invisible, too.
I’m afraid I might lose these moments, this landscape and my home. I have Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which allows young undocumented immigrants who came here as children to get temporary permission to work and live in this country.
President Trump ended the DACA program a few months ago. If Congress doesn’t create a path to citizenship for Dreamers soon, I could be deported. So I’m asking U.S. Rep. Fred Upton to act now to keep me — and more than 6,400 other young people in Michigan with DACA — here in our home.
I was born to a single mother living in a small town in Michoacán, Mexico. She had worked as a secretary for the mayor, but when he lost his job, she did, too, and and she couldn’t find another one. Right after I was born, she decided to move to the United States to support me.
At first she left me behind, and I spent my earliest years living with my grandparents back in Mexico. At age 9, I came to Kalamazoo to be with my mother, who was living with her new partner. I was so happy to see my mom. But even as a young kid, I knew that the enormous sacrifice I had made by leaving my grandparents and great-grandmother behind meant that I had to achieve something important in this country.
In high school, I became president of the Bilingual Club, played soccer and joined the wrestling team. An art teacher took me under her wing and showed me I had something to express. Some of the work I'm most proud of depicts environmental pollution and myself crossing the border.
Everything I did made my mom afraid. What if I got noticed and law enforcement agents picked me up? I got DACA in 2012. I hadn’t realized how much pressure I’d lived with, feeling constantly afraid of deportation, until it was gone. I became much more outgoing. I started to feel like an insider, not an outsider. This was my country and I would build my life in it. I started dreaming of doing something more than my mother ever imagined for me — going to college, maybe becoming an artist.
I had to figure many things out by myself — how to apply to college, finance it, study and succeed. Now I’m a student at Western Michigan University. I'm part of a fraternity, Omega Delta Phi, which does a lot of volunteer work. And I coach soccer and work in an after-school program to help kids with their homework.
There are so many people like me — photographers, artists, doctors, social workers — Dreamers who bring our life experience to our work and to the people we help.
Congressman Upton should know that there are many students at Western who are DACA recipients, and our future depends in part on what he does. We’re also part of the future of Kalamazoo and of Michigan. What he does now makes a difference not only for us, but for this place we all love so much. I hope he helps to find a way to keep us here in our home.
Irving Quintero Gervacio, 21, is in his fourth year at Western Michigan University, where he is studying fine arts.