Immigration

“When you come here, you don’t think about places, you just think about your family.”

WE’VE ALL HEARD STORIES about refugees and immigrants coming to the U.S. to start a new life. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to leave the place where you grew up and start over in a foreign country? Maybe you have friends whose families immigrated to the U.S. or you even came to New Orleans from someplace else? The New Orleans metro area is home to many immigrants from a lot of different countries, but most are from Honduras, Vietnam, Mexico, Nicaragua, and India.

We wanted to learn more about what it means to be a young female immigrant in New Orleans. Lusher Charter School student Keira “Brooklyn” Armstrong (11) sat down with Mayte Velásquez Pineda (18), who came to New Orleans from Honduras when she was about Brooklyn’s age, to learn more about Mayte’s journey and life as part of the New Orleans community.

Mayte was five when her father immigrated to the U.S. for better job opportunities and to support his family back in Honduras. When Mayte was 12 years old, she left her home to join her father. Together with a group of strangers, Mayte traveled through Guatemala and Mexico and eventually crossed the Rio Grande to reach Texas. Tis trip took one week, but she was caught at the border and spent three weeks in a shelter waiting to be reunited with her dad after seven years of living worlds apart.

Tell me about yourself…

I’m a senior at Bonnabel Magnet Academy and live in Metairie. I love to sing and play soccer, and I want to go to Tulane or LSU after I graduate from high school.

What was your journey to the U.S. like?

It was happy and sad at the same time because I left my family and because I came to see my other family. I was confused. It was hard because I left something behind, and I was alone. I traveled by car and bus and walked a little bit. We crossed the river by the border on a boat with 15 people on it. The Border Patrol was waiting for us. We knew they would take us.

What happened after you got stopped at the border?

I stayed in a place with many rooms together with other girls and boys for about two days and then they sent me to a big house. I stayed there for maybe three weeks. And then I came here. I was lucky because I only had to be there for three weeks. There were many people who were there for three, four months. I was lucky.

And then you were reunited with your family in New Orleans? How was that?

I was really happy. I cried a lot. When I saw my dad and realized it was him, I started crying and ran to him. My dad told me to stop crying, but I told him, “I can’t.” He was crying like a baby too.

And you met your stepmother for the first time…

The person who raised me in Honduras was my grandmother. I never had a mother. Having your grandmother is not the same. That was one thing I was looking forward to when I came here. It was my dream to have a mother. In my mind, my stepmother is not my stepmother; she is my mother. That was my dream.

What do you like about the U.S.?

Everything. It’s really different from my home country. I don’t miss Honduras that much. I miss my family, but I don’t miss my country because I’m okay here.

What did you expect New Orleans to be like?

I wasn’t expecting anything. I was thinking about my father; I wasn’t thinking about New Orleans. When you come here, you don’t think about places, you just think about your family.

How would you describe New Orleans to a girl in your home country?

It’s a happy place.

If you could change something about the immigration system, what would you change?

I want the government to stop separating families. I hope that people who come here for a better life won’t get deported anymore. They went through a lot to come here. I feel sad when I see the news because I identify with them. I know what they left behind.

You were an undocumented immigrant until recently. How does that feel?

I’m happy because one of my goals was to get my documents so I can study and go to a university. It really is a different life when you have your documents because now I can work anywhere and do everything I want to do. Without documents I can’t go back to Honduras; I can’t work and it’s difficult to go to college; I can’t get a driver’s license; and the police could take me to jail. I want to go to Honduras and visit my grandmother when I get my green card. My grandmother is really happy that she’s going to see me again.

Nearly half of all children fleeing to the United States from Central America faced severe violence in their home countries, and four out of five (so about 80%!) of immigrant children hoped to reunify with family members who live in the U.S.

Over the last five years, about 3,000 immigrant children arrived in the New Orleans metro area on their own and were reunified with a family member or friend. That’s roughly equivalent to the number of students who graduate from high school each year in New Orleans!

About 15,000 foreign-born children under the age of 18 live in Louisiana.

About 30,000 undocumented children and adults live in the New Orleans area, which is nearly half of the undocumented immigrant community in Louisiana.

Migrant = Anyone who is moving from one place to another

Immigrant = Person who has left their home country to stay in another country

Refugee = Person who is forced to leave their country because they have been seriously harmed or fear being harmed for reasons including race, religion, or political opinion

Undocumented Immigrant = Immigrant who hasn’t been given permission by the U.S. government to live in the country (it is common for an undocumented immigrant to later get permission to stay)

Immigrants may be put into jail when they are accused of being in the U.S. without permission—even if they are not charged with a crime. While no immigrant children are detained in Louisiana, there are three jails in Louisiana that regularly hold adult immigrants.

A heartfelt thank you to Laila Hlass and Homero López, Jr. for sharing their knowledge and making this article possible. Laila is a law professor at Tulane University Law School, where she teaches immigration law, and Homero is the executive director and managing attorney of ISLA (Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy), a legal services nonprofit that provides pro bono legal representation for detained immigrants in Louisiana. Homero can be reached at hlopez@islaimmigration.org.