Harvard student glad to be back in U.S.
Temporarily denied re-entry, undocumented young Mexican yearns for permanent residency, and ultimately citizenship, in his adopted home
This is the second in a two-part series on Dario Guerrero, a junior at Harvard, who was brought to the U.S. illegally from Mexico by his parents when he was 2 years old. In an attempt to find a cancer cure for his mother, he returned to Mexico and was not allowed entry back into the U.S. for eight months.
Q: What changes would you recommend to the U.S. government to address the issue of people who were brought here as children and don’t have official status?
A: I think this is separate from the issue of a universal amnesty, because the children who were brought without documents to the U.S., all they have ever known is the U.S. There is no benefit to spending money to deport them or keep them here in the country without an option of being fully contributing members of society. If they have permission to work, they don’t just have to be paid in cash. They have to pay taxes and do everything by the book. It not only gives them the chance to contribute financially or economically more to the country, but it gives them the ability to seek opportunities in the country.
Q: We have the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that allows people such as yourself to remain here for an education, but in the future there is no guarantee in the program that you are going to be granted permanent status.
A: What Deferred Action did was highlight a very select group of the undocumented population, and I would say not to keep students like myself in limbo, not knowing if we will be able to renew our status in the next two years. Given a path, maybe not to citizenship but to permanent residency, would eliminate the legal costs of having to renew hundreds of thousands of applications every two years. It will also give them the opportunity to be in this country without any worries, and to fully think about what it means to stay here permanently. Not knowing if you will be here in the next two years doesn’t give you the chance to really invest yourself in this country. If I don’t know I will be here in the long-term, I won’t gather the capital to start a firm, buy a house, or to create permanent ties to this country, because there is always the possibility that I’ll be kicked out or
have to seek opportunities elsewhere.
Q: So some kind of a residency status would be an interim solution for this, not necessarily full-blown citizenship, until you qualify for some path to residency?
A: Yes, something that would eliminate the worry of deportation or being ostracized in the next few years would be good.
Q: Has your feeling towards the U.S. changed because of what happened to you?
A: Yes, I am more aware of the fact that I am expendable. I could be left outside the country without the opportunity of returning. A lot of people would be very happy that I am gone from Harvard. But in another sense, being in Mexico for those few months and really considering what my life would be like if I was never allowed to return, I became more grateful of the United States. Crossing the border, I immediately noticed the difference between Tijuana and San Diego. Going through the California Border Patrol station felt like I was being rescued from a life that I really didn’t want
to consider and really didn’t want to pursue outside of the U.S.
Q: Having come to this country as a 2-year-old, do you have any memories of Mexico?
A: I have no memories of Mexico. Coming back, I am grateful and recognize all the privileges that we have in this country. People that are naturalized vote in higher proportions than people who are born here. I realize now what my life could have been if I hadn’t been brought to this country. If given the chance, I would vote every time I could, and I would do everything to make this country better.
Q: Has your experience changed your future plans at all? Where do you go from here?
A: I’m definitely going to seek a way to have permanent status in this country. I don’t know if that will be by having a company sponsor me for a visa or through marriage if I decide to marry an American citizen. I’ll graduate in three semesters, and I want to work in Hollywood or go to film school. I think I have a lot more waiting for me here than anywhere else.
Rather than being treated as the voice of illegal immigrants in this country, because that is how a lot of the Spanish news outlets are painting my story, I want to give hope to undocumented students, many of whom are so discouraged by the legal system that they never strive for more education or a permanent career in this country because they think it’s not worth it. I don’t have my own career really going yet, but I want to show that it’s possible.
The people coming here are the hungriest people — the ones who sacrifice everything to be in this country. It doesn’t make sense to turn these people away and send them back. When considering the context of what made the United States, it’s made up of hungry immigrants. This is what we are, hungry immigrants, and we want to be here.