HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH HONORED EVERYDAY
On National Hispanic Heritage month, I think on who I am, who I want to be, and how I got here. I grew up in a loving and close-knit Mexican-Ecuadorian family. My parents, older brother, and I shared a house with my grandparents, who of course to this day do not speak a word of English. I remember as a kid, being extremely close to my dad, who was born in Mexico. I thought he was the coolest person to walk the earth and proudly proclaimed to complete strangers that he was my dad, as if they cared. At that point in my life, I didn’t realize where you came from, or where you were born mattered the way that I deeply understand it does now. I have vivid memories of a day off from school when I was six years old, when I went with my parents to a government building because they needed to file some paperwork. The process felt like it was taking ages, but it was purposeful. We had been told to wait while they discreetly called immigration services to take away my father. I watched, confused, as multiple guards grabbed my father and took him into a side room, while my mother cried helplessly. I didn’t understand what was going on, I thought it was all part of it. My mom wiped her tears away and said we have to go home without him. I walked into the room where they now had my dad seated and surrounded. I handed him the action figure I brought with me that day to keep me busy. I said, “give it back when you get home.” I looked up angrily at the guards, who were now in tears after that exchange. Days, weeks, months passed by as I slowly began to realize that he wouldn’t be coming back.
It wouldn’t be for another 6 and a half years that my dad would finally come back legally to the U.S., just in time to see me graduate middle school and join our family for Christmas. My parents never gave up, they fought seemingly endless legal battles, and their unyielding love for each other kept them strong and reunited our family.
I reflect on this time in my life because I realize how significant the impact was. At 7 years old, I was dead set on becoming an immigration lawyer so that I could help others in my family’s position; I never wanted anyone to go through the pain and sadness that my family went through. I wanted to know the law; I wanted to understand it inside and out. I became fascinated with law, policies, and politics. I am not an immigration lawyer now, nor do I plan on going to law school to become one. I have found my passions through my undergrad studies of creative writing and politics as well as my interest for public policy and administration in my time as a graduate student, and now my passion for public interest work. This all stemmed from a child’s desire to help others and to become an immigration lawyer.
I find that many Hispanics try their best to assimilate, try their best to distance themselves from who they culturally are, but I am a product of everything that comes with being Mexican-Ecuadorian. I am proud of who I am and where I’m from. When people ask where I’m from, I say Mexican-Ecuadorian, and I say it proudly. My work at SeniorLAW Center helps to fulfill my passion every day.” – Jonathan Lopez, Administrative Coordinator, Tenant Rights