Dublin Core
Title
Adina
Subject
An oral history from Mexico to Hoxie, Kansas.
Description
Adina is from Hoxie, Kansas. Her mother is from Chihuahua, Mexico and her father is from Aguascalientes, Mexico. Her parents migrated to the U.S with limited resources. In this interview, she recounts challenges she faced when applying for college and the “constant fear and uncertainty” in her life.
Source
Date
1990s
Coverage
Mexico
Oral History Item Type Metadata
Interviewer
Marta Caminero-Santangelo
Interviewee
Adina
Language of Interview
English
Format
Audio
Transcript
Adina (A):
Marta (M)
A: We were actually from Scott city, which is about an hour-and-a-half from where we live now. And my parents chose to go there because like all my mom's side of the family was there.
A: But then my dad got a job at the feedlot in Hoxie, Kansas. And so then we moved over there and it was–I didn't I guess I didn't really know much about like first grade.
A: Then that's when my parents, like my brothers just started talking to me–telling me to watch what I say in school. And so it was kinda like we were, like, hiding.
A: So anytime my friends or anything would ask me if we were like–as a kid, it's not as much of a big deal now, but as a kid, they'd be like, “Where are you going on vacation?” And I wouldn't say anything because we couldn't get on a plane because to get on a plane and my parents would need their IDs or passports.
A: And being undocumented, they didn't have any of those things.
A: I think the biggest struggle was getting older and into high school like it and trying to get a driver's license or farmers permit, I need it–I would meet my parents to show their license to the courthouse so they could sign for me.
A: But they didn't have any of that because they were undocumented, so I would just have to wait around and like my friends and stuff would ask me, like, “Why didn't I have a ride?” and do that and I would just have to make up the story because I couldn't tell him that my parents were undocumented.
A: Applying for college–that was probably the most stressful part because I think on almost every form they would ask for my parents’ social security number.
A: And with the FAFSA, I never knew what to put her because obviously you can't lie on those things. But at the same time it was like, “Do I have to I have to say it?” “But what are the risks of saying this? Like what's going to happen to my parents if I tell you this.
A: So it was just constant fear and you were just never comfortable because you didn't know when someone who's going to find out or when ICE was just going to come and [then] my parents would be gone.
A: It was the same for my brother to my oldest brother because he is also undocumented as well. But the rest of myself and the rest of my siblings are documented. So it's definitely not as hard as it is for other undocumented children that came up here with their parents.
A: So it has been a little easier for us, but getting a kid being a minor, getting stuff originally, like necessarily get by without having somebody sign so that I could get a license or ID as well.
A: So we would like–I would try to have my brother sign for me…for the longest time, they wouldn't allow that because he wasn't technically my legal guardian. But I don't know what happened. [The DMV] did not let me get a license until I was 18; until I did not need my parents to sign or until he didn't need that stuff for my parents.
A: But yeah, I guess I always felt I couldn't–my friends didn't really know me because I couldn't. I felt like I was lying to them. And I do not like to lie, but I always had to make up a story or an excuse or pretend like I had this because I couldn't say what the real circumstances were.
A: So I got to take driver's ed[ucation class] and stuff with all my friends, but I couldn't get my permit or anything with it.
A: So I went through high school pretending like I didn't have it. And same with passports or stuff. I couldn't travel and I would have to miss out on some school trips and stuff because I didn't have an ID card because I couldn't get mine without my parents’ stuff.
A: It was just a lot.
A: It's not necessarily as hard now that I'm technically an adult. I'm like, Sure I can do stuff by myself and I don't need my parents’ documents or like my parents’ social security number or their IDs.
A: But as a kid, it was hard with school and especially in the small area that we live in. It's just very, very conservative there. So I never knew even if they werelike my close friends, I never do. Like how they would feel about something like that.
M: Remind me, where did you primarily grow up?
A: In Hoxie, Kansas.
M: Where is that, roughly?
A: Ummm. On I-70, you go all the way west. It’s about 4 and a half hours from here. You know, we're Hays, Kansas, is at? It's an hour and 30 [minutes] from there.
M: Okay. Can you tell me where your parents were from originally?
A: Yeah. My mom was from Sala Bosa but most of her family is from Chihuahua, so they're all around that area. And then my dad was from Aguas Calientes.
M: And when did they come over here? Must have been more than 18 years ago since you were born here?
A: Yeah. I think my dad–my dad came up [to the United States] when he was really I think about 15 because he had some uncles up here and he wanted to work. So he came up extremely young.
A: And then my mom, actually, she probably was around her early twenties, mid-twenties because she had my oldest brother in Mexico and then her, her sister and my brother crossed.
A: So my brother experienced like going at a very young age.
M: Wow. So your parents were having a long distance relationship?
A: No. My parents met here [in the U.S.].
M: And so did your brother experience dangerous crossing when he was little?
A: When we would like, talk to him about it he said the hardest part was the heat because they didn't and he was a kid. So obviously it was a lot like harder on him than it was for my mom and aunt because they did not have any water…
A: There was this one instance where he like he dropped his sippy cup as they were like running away because they were like doing their patrols. I don't know if that's what it's called. So my aunt had to run back and grab it because he had started crying and they like almost got caught. It was like a whole…
M: Oh my God. Wow. How old was?
A: I think he's I think my mom said like six.
M: Wow, that's incredible to think about.
A: Yeah.
M: So once you got here [Lawrence, Kansas], then how is it different? Or I mean, I think you had said something about you feeling different now that you're here?
A: Yeah. Here there's just more. It's a lot bigger. So there's a lot more like diversity and people are just more welcoming and helpful. Like I found a lot more people that have experienced or have friends in that same situation.
A: And if I go back home, that's like it's like unheard of it. It's so we're just like we're like completely different people when we're back home. Because the only people that we ever talk about any of this to is our own family that lives there [in Hoxie].
M: So is there not a Hispanic community there in Hoxie?
A: Not much. Most of it is just family or their close family friends. It's a predominantly white community.
M: Oh, okay. Great. Thank you so much for sharing that story. It's really incredible. It relates to stuff that I've been teaching in my other classes just like completely perfectly. But honestly, I mean, I've been doing this stuff for awhile and I–it never occurred to me that even if you were documented, it might be hard to get a license.
A: Yeah.
M: You're a citizen. It might be hard to get a license if your parents were not documented. That had not occurred to me.
A: So that's a really yeah. It was like I just remember thinking like this is the most stressful they ever. I don't know and now my sister is going through the same thing.
M: So do you have any advice for your sister?
A: I would just tell her like you really just have to wait until you hit that 17, 18 [year-old] mark. Honestly, there's not much to do until you hit that point.
Marta (M)
A: We were actually from Scott city, which is about an hour-and-a-half from where we live now. And my parents chose to go there because like all my mom's side of the family was there.
A: But then my dad got a job at the feedlot in Hoxie, Kansas. And so then we moved over there and it was–I didn't I guess I didn't really know much about like first grade.
A: Then that's when my parents, like my brothers just started talking to me–telling me to watch what I say in school. And so it was kinda like we were, like, hiding.
A: So anytime my friends or anything would ask me if we were like–as a kid, it's not as much of a big deal now, but as a kid, they'd be like, “Where are you going on vacation?” And I wouldn't say anything because we couldn't get on a plane because to get on a plane and my parents would need their IDs or passports.
A: And being undocumented, they didn't have any of those things.
A: I think the biggest struggle was getting older and into high school like it and trying to get a driver's license or farmers permit, I need it–I would meet my parents to show their license to the courthouse so they could sign for me.
A: But they didn't have any of that because they were undocumented, so I would just have to wait around and like my friends and stuff would ask me, like, “Why didn't I have a ride?” and do that and I would just have to make up the story because I couldn't tell him that my parents were undocumented.
A: Applying for college–that was probably the most stressful part because I think on almost every form they would ask for my parents’ social security number.
A: And with the FAFSA, I never knew what to put her because obviously you can't lie on those things. But at the same time it was like, “Do I have to I have to say it?” “But what are the risks of saying this? Like what's going to happen to my parents if I tell you this.
A: So it was just constant fear and you were just never comfortable because you didn't know when someone who's going to find out or when ICE was just going to come and [then] my parents would be gone.
A: It was the same for my brother to my oldest brother because he is also undocumented as well. But the rest of myself and the rest of my siblings are documented. So it's definitely not as hard as it is for other undocumented children that came up here with their parents.
A: So it has been a little easier for us, but getting a kid being a minor, getting stuff originally, like necessarily get by without having somebody sign so that I could get a license or ID as well.
A: So we would like–I would try to have my brother sign for me…for the longest time, they wouldn't allow that because he wasn't technically my legal guardian. But I don't know what happened. [The DMV] did not let me get a license until I was 18; until I did not need my parents to sign or until he didn't need that stuff for my parents.
A: But yeah, I guess I always felt I couldn't–my friends didn't really know me because I couldn't. I felt like I was lying to them. And I do not like to lie, but I always had to make up a story or an excuse or pretend like I had this because I couldn't say what the real circumstances were.
A: So I got to take driver's ed[ucation class] and stuff with all my friends, but I couldn't get my permit or anything with it.
A: So I went through high school pretending like I didn't have it. And same with passports or stuff. I couldn't travel and I would have to miss out on some school trips and stuff because I didn't have an ID card because I couldn't get mine without my parents’ stuff.
A: It was just a lot.
A: It's not necessarily as hard now that I'm technically an adult. I'm like, Sure I can do stuff by myself and I don't need my parents’ documents or like my parents’ social security number or their IDs.
A: But as a kid, it was hard with school and especially in the small area that we live in. It's just very, very conservative there. So I never knew even if they werelike my close friends, I never do. Like how they would feel about something like that.
M: Remind me, where did you primarily grow up?
A: In Hoxie, Kansas.
M: Where is that, roughly?
A: Ummm. On I-70, you go all the way west. It’s about 4 and a half hours from here. You know, we're Hays, Kansas, is at? It's an hour and 30 [minutes] from there.
M: Okay. Can you tell me where your parents were from originally?
A: Yeah. My mom was from Sala Bosa but most of her family is from Chihuahua, so they're all around that area. And then my dad was from Aguas Calientes.
M: And when did they come over here? Must have been more than 18 years ago since you were born here?
A: Yeah. I think my dad–my dad came up [to the United States] when he was really I think about 15 because he had some uncles up here and he wanted to work. So he came up extremely young.
A: And then my mom, actually, she probably was around her early twenties, mid-twenties because she had my oldest brother in Mexico and then her, her sister and my brother crossed.
A: So my brother experienced like going at a very young age.
M: Wow. So your parents were having a long distance relationship?
A: No. My parents met here [in the U.S.].
M: And so did your brother experience dangerous crossing when he was little?
A: When we would like, talk to him about it he said the hardest part was the heat because they didn't and he was a kid. So obviously it was a lot like harder on him than it was for my mom and aunt because they did not have any water…
A: There was this one instance where he like he dropped his sippy cup as they were like running away because they were like doing their patrols. I don't know if that's what it's called. So my aunt had to run back and grab it because he had started crying and they like almost got caught. It was like a whole…
M: Oh my God. Wow. How old was?
A: I think he's I think my mom said like six.
M: Wow, that's incredible to think about.
A: Yeah.
M: So once you got here [Lawrence, Kansas], then how is it different? Or I mean, I think you had said something about you feeling different now that you're here?
A: Yeah. Here there's just more. It's a lot bigger. So there's a lot more like diversity and people are just more welcoming and helpful. Like I found a lot more people that have experienced or have friends in that same situation.
A: And if I go back home, that's like it's like unheard of it. It's so we're just like we're like completely different people when we're back home. Because the only people that we ever talk about any of this to is our own family that lives there [in Hoxie].
M: So is there not a Hispanic community there in Hoxie?
A: Not much. Most of it is just family or their close family friends. It's a predominantly white community.
M: Oh, okay. Great. Thank you so much for sharing that story. It's really incredible. It relates to stuff that I've been teaching in my other classes just like completely perfectly. But honestly, I mean, I've been doing this stuff for awhile and I–it never occurred to me that even if you were documented, it might be hard to get a license.
A: Yeah.
M: You're a citizen. It might be hard to get a license if your parents were not documented. That had not occurred to me.
A: So that's a really yeah. It was like I just remember thinking like this is the most stressful they ever. I don't know and now my sister is going through the same thing.
M: So do you have any advice for your sister?
A: I would just tell her like you really just have to wait until you hit that 17, 18 [year-old] mark. Honestly, there's not much to do until you hit that point.
City (Region, State) and Country of Origin
Mexico
Current City of Residence
Hoxie, Kansas