This is a lengthier one, so bear with me on this one. 

Meet one of my best friends, Claudia. We have been friends since we were about 13.

 We talked more in depth about her experience of coming  from

Bolivia to the US in the fifth grade, to citizenship, and her area of work.

From Bolivia to The US:

"I was 10 years old when my parents decided to move us here. I don't remember much, it's been 18 years,

and I still haven't been back. I've always told myself that I would go back to visit and I still haven't. 

So much has changed and the busyness of life has gotten in the way, but it's something now, especially as being a citizen,

I'm free to go and come back and I don't have to worry. When I was a permanent resident I always heard that I would have to be back

within a certain amount of time. I think with the Trump Administration, I was hesitant to do many things because of the fear of the unknown.

If they are separating immigrant families now, then what would stop them from separating mine, 

and me from my husband and US- born children? What's going to stop them from saying, 

'Oh, now we are going to go after permanent residents and we are going to take that way?'

Of course I never got into any kind of trouble, but it was still a fear I had 

--not knowing if I could be ripped apart from my kids who are 5 and 1.

So that's what really pushed me to going for citizenship."

The Process:

"After 3 years of being married to a US citizen, I could apply for citizenship and I never did it."

I asked her why. She says, "I could of done it in 2013, but I think because we moved so many times

due to the military life and I was comfortable being a permanent resident with my green card,

being that it was good for 10 years. I did regret it when voting time came and I really started to think about it then.

When I became the most interested is when Trump started doing deportations a lot more.

I think within his first two months of holding office he started doing mass deportations and separating families.

It didn't put me in panic mode, but it just instilled a little bit of fear,

so I just said, 'Okay I have to do it', now that I live in Ohio permanently for school  

and my address isn't going to change for awhile. The application fee was $725 I believe; I could be wrong. 

I applied in August of 2017, and I think by October they told me to get my fingerprints done for my background check.

I got an immediate response in November for the official interview, which meant that I had to study

the 100 civic questions of the US government.

They told me that they were going to ask me 10 questions and I had to get at least 6 of them right,

 answer the writing portion in English correctly, and you also have to speak in English.

If you're a over a certain age then you don't have to take that portion, which is what stops a lot of people

because they think that their English isn't good enough. What the citizenship gave me is, now I can vote,

serve in a grand jury, and have the same rights everyone else has.

...I just can't become the President." She laughs.

The Fifth Grade:

"It was kind of scary because I came here in the middle of 5th grade and I didn't know the language.

 I was kind of thrown into it and culture shocked. Everything was so different. 

I had to learn English with flash cards. I would sit in the back of the room while all of the other students

went through normal social studies and normal math, and read simple cards with simple english words that had pictures.

They were basically like.. for little kids.

The first day of school, I had to ride the bus, which I had never done - I had only seen them in the movies.

 It was kind of intimidating because there was snow everywhere, and I had never seen snow.

So I was going to get on this bus and not know if they were going to bring me back or not.

I thought, 'Will they know where I live?' 

I remember the first day I got dropped off at the wrong school and I started crying

 because I knew this wasn't the right school. I thought, 'but how do I communicate that?'

It was a traumatic experience. I don't remember how they figured it out, 

if they went through my book bag or what. Everyone was welcoming in the fact that they wanted to know who I was 

and thought it was so cool that I knew Spanish. So you know as fifth graders, they were asking me how to say this and that. 

They would show me what they were holding and I would tell them how to say it, so that was a great way of making friends.

The good thing about learning English was that I was a really good speller because I had to visually see the word first.

 Ironically, throughout the rest of the school years I had A's in English classes." 

4.0:

"In high school, you know, you start thinking about what colleges 

you will be going to and what you will being doing with life.

I started getting the grades in high school, well, because I like school.

I wasn't much of a sports person, so school had to do me justice, and it did. I would study for hours,

and that was fun to me." She laughs. "It's funny because my parents had very crazy shifts and worked a lot of hours,

and they didn't really push me. I pushed myself, and because of the language barrier

they also couldn't really help me with homework, so I kind of had to have that motivation myself.

My older siblings kind of helped with the caretaker role and making sure we were okay

with my parents working so many hours." I asked where they worked at the time.

She says, "They worked factory jobs.

They graduated from high school in our country and had degrees, but they couldn't have better paying jobs

because of the language barrier so they opted for the over-time and the factory work

that just took repetition versus working with people in customer service.

You couldn't do that not knowing the language.

In high school, as I started trying to plan out what I would do

l kind of lived in the shadows." She pauses and tears filled her eyes.

"I saw other students, friends, and classmates who were able to get their license

or get their first job when they were 16. Even though I wanted to help my parents,

 I couldn't because I didn't have status at that point. When we entered the country, it was legally,

but when that Visa expired it put us into an undocumented status. So we lived in the shadows, hoping to go unnoticed,

until something with the government could be done. So that meant although my grades were great and although I had a 4.0, 

 I couldn't go to a four-year college. I couldn't get financial aid or the benefits that anyone else could,

so my future at that time, being 16 or 17 years old, was unknown. I didn't know what I would do with my life 

because I couldn't work, I couldn't have a driver's license, and I couldn't go to school.

So that was hard, on top of being a teenager and finding your true identity and who you will become.

I remember a class trip where the other students were able to go to Canada for geometry club.

They asked me if I was going to go, and I just said 'No, I am not going.'

I never revealed that if I went, I would not have been able to come back.

It's funny now, but back then -it was the highlight of the year."

College and Marriage:

"I knew I wouldn't be able to go to a four-year college.

So what I did when I was 18, I went to a community college not knowing if I would be able to graduate.

I was working under the table to pay for college out of pocket, with no financial aid.

 Alex and I knew each other from going to school together throughout the years

 and liked each other back in the 8th grade, but never dated.

We started dating when he came back from college and we ended up getting engaged

kind of fast because he joined the military and got stationed in California.

We knew that we would have to get married for us to be able to be together.

So we didn't have the typical wedding, we just got married through the courthouse or Justice of Peace 

and I went to California. So what I did was continue to go to school online for a human service degree at the time.

 I learned that being married to a US citizen was that I could apply for a work permit and a permanent residence card,

but there was a fee. There is always a fee. So we started doing that, which was great.

It took a little time, but it worked, and I didn't have to fear anymore.

With him being in the military, I could travel, move to different states, and visit my family in Ohio.

After I got my residency, I was able to transfer to a four-year college,

so I transferred to Washington State University in 2012 and we started our family within the same year.

At that time, we were living in Washington State and I was a full-time student, a mom to a newborn,

and I started working in a military bank. I was able to start my career, continue with my studies,

AND start my credit which was awesome. I just had so many goals I wanted to accomplish.

In 2014, I graduated with my Bachelor of Science in Psychology

along with having a two-year-old daughter, and living the military life."

Case Manager:

"We moved back to California and I became a Case Manager since I knew that I wanted to work in the social work field.

I worked for the Office of Refugee and Resettlement for a program called Southwest key programs. 

Living in San Diego and being so close to the border, I worked at a shelter that housed immigrant children.

They were unaccompanied minors that would cross the border from Central America to escape violence, 

domestic violence, and gang activity that was taking place in countries like Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico, even Guatemala.

They were coming to seek refuge or have a better life in the United States.

The sad part is they would come without a parent or they themselves were forced to grow up really fast and become the breadwinner.

When border patrol apprehended them, they would be placed in our shelter and

we would have to look for a sponsor to house them while their immigration proceedings were taking place.

It didn't mean they got a green card or that they would stay here. 

It just meant at the time they were waiting for their immigration case to end, and we had to place them with a safe person."

Claudia and I went over some of the highlights and lowlights about the job and she says:

"They had very traumatic stories, but the minute you finished their case and they went to a good home you felt SO happy.

Also, I would see a child see their mom for the first time in 14 years and I would sometimes have tears.

Like a mother and child who hadn't seen each other since the child was 1.

Just to know that you worked on that case was so rewarding." I asked what was one specific case that tugged her hearts strings?

She says that, one she remembers specifically was a 6-year-old girl who came into their care.

"Her sister had been killed by a gang member in El Salvador. Her sister was about 18 and she was pregnant and I believe knifed.

So talking to this little girl’s parents, they had actually brought her to the states because they had feared for her life.

Just seeing children fear for their lives and that's why they are here is a harsh reality.

Like 'if I didn't come here, I would have been killed.' So that's what got me onto the immigration platform,

I mean I had been an immigrant myself, but my story didn't compare to any of these children.

Working as a Case Manager pushed me into wanting to go for my master's degree

so that I could move from working on the case to becoming a Clinician and getting to talk to the kids 

about their trauma, and make a difference through therapy.

That's what pushed me to go back to school, and now that's what I'm doing.

I am graduating next year, July 2019, and hoping to become a Clinician myself where I'll hopefully

do individual therapy with people, or group therapy with people, whether its children or adults.

Coming from the military perspective I really want to work with veterans

since my husband is a veteran himself. My other part is immigration and what I'm doing now.

I currently work with DOJ Accredited Representatives who work on Visas and

immigration forms for people to become permanent residents,

become a citizen, or get temporary protected status."

Dreamers:

I asked where her heart stands with DACA.

She says, "Well, when we would see the kids who were apprehended,

because they crossed the border, sometimes they would come with shirts

that were ripped to pieces, shoes full of mud, and full of such fear,

I know there is a great need. I feel that it's really an injustice because they were brought here as children.

That would have been me, but I'm fortunate enough to have been able to get status, 

but that case doesn't work for everybody, you know.

If there was an immigration reform that would allow more people to qualify to get status,

they would be willing to take that and pay the fee, but there isn't.

My hopes are that there will be some kind of solution. I wish that in the next few months they could

come up with a solution for the young people, or even the parents who are being affected.

Families are being ripped apart. Where do you draw the line when you are 

separating families and people are living in fear?

Can there be an immigration reform?

If I wasn't able to get status, then I would be a DACA recipient.

I was brought here as a child, so what makes them any different than me?

They are as American as anybody else.

They are people who contribute to the economy.

They don't even have the federal benefits,

so they are not a burden to society.

These are the qualified individuals who are bettering themselves

by going to school or in trades that are in high demand.

So to take that away would be..

I think, crucial to the economy." 

Claudia, pictured with her husband and five-year-old daughter after becoming a new citizen.