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Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Life American Children in Mexico

Posted by Cienna Madrid on Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 1:24 PM

Last Friday, the Obama administration announced big news: Thousands of illegal immigrants who came to United States as children would be allowed to stay in the U.S. without fear of deportation. But the reality is that many undocumented families still face being split up or deported as a unit—and for children born and raised in America, that can feel like exile.

Here's a glimpse of what the American-born children of undocumented Mexican parents experience when they find themselves suddenly uprooted:

Jeffrey Isidoro sat near the door of his fifth-grade classroom here in Central Mexico, staring outside through designer glasses that, like his Nike sneakers and Nike backpack, signaled a life lived almost entirely in the United States. His parents are at home in Mexico. Jeffrey is lost.

When his teacher asked in Spanish how dolphins communicate, a boy next to him reached over to underline the right answer. When it was Jeffrey's turn to read, his classmates laughed and shouted "en ingles, en ingles" — causing Jeffrey to blush.

"Houston is home," Jeffrey said during recess, in English. "The houses and stuff here, it's all a little strange. I feel, like, uncomfortable."

The whole thing is utterly worth your time.

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Comments (12) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

Its a good human interest story, however the comments section makes you want to go stab people in the face. Avoid it at all costs.

Posted by meanie

on June 19, 2012 at 1:43 PM

Cue idiot racist comments...

Posted by CC-Rob on June 19, 2012 at 1:44 PM

Hm. Well I can empathize directly with that situation. I'm a second-generation child of this sort of life change, called "third culture" by anthropologists. "Military brats" are one popular example of this.

But this sort of thing --child growing up in one country, family moving to another country with a different language-- happens all the time. Kids are resilient, they can adapt. It can be hard, but it makes you who you are. And it also makes you unique, which is awesome.

Kids like this can be cultural ambassadors helping to bring different cultures together as they get older.

Posted by treacle on June 19, 2012 at 1:51 PM

The original story in the New York Times is accompanied by a fantastic video with Jeffrey and his family. Added bonus - no idiot comments staring you in the face. Thanks for highlighting this one, even if second-hand, Cienna. So much good work in that paper these days.

Posted by gloomy gus on June 19, 2012 at 1:51 PM

It is horrifying that the Clintons caused all these humanitarian problems by destroying Mexican agriculture with NAFTA and leaving a whole generation with no sustenance but to travel across rivers and barbed wires.

NAFTA in fact, was a calculated means of trying to boost the population of Democrat voters by forcing Mexicans into the US where they would become permanently beholden to that party's social programs.

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe

on June 19, 2012 at 2:11 PM

Snore.

Posted by Central Scrutinizer on June 19, 2012 at 2:17 PM

#6

Right...still doing that?

The whole *yawn* post died off in like 2009.

Try and keep up, will you?

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe

on June 19, 2012 at 2:46 PM

Bailo, it's turning into a really nice afternoon outside. What say you take off the aluminum-foil hat for a few minutes, go out there and get some fresh air? It'll do you a world of good, and maybe even shake you out of those Clinton/NAFTA/New World Order Conspiracy Theory doldrums.

Posted by COMTE

on June 19, 2012 at 3:19 PM

When I was a kid we lived in Mexico City for a while (my family is a bunch of white Americans), and my younger brother's school was all-English for half the day, and all-Spanish the other half. The class was a mix of native English and Spanish speakers, so everyone was somewhat lost at least half the time.

Posted by tiktok on June 19, 2012 at 3:44 PM

5th grader, he'll be speaking fluent Spanish in 12 months. No worries.

Posted by Sargon Bighorn on June 19, 2012 at 6:28 PM

Hey, I think I'll just decide to immigrate to Mexico. Oh, that's right. It's not legal for me to do that - even that shitty failed state. Only in America.

Posted by Stranger'sWorstNightmare on June 19, 2012 at 7:30 PM