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During this past spring, the Caminos de Esperanza Project gathered a group of Guatemalan immigrant youths from New Bedford, some of whom are members of households that have been terrorized by ICE in the past six months, to counter the dehumanizing narratives that have for too long characterized Latino immigrants in general and Latino immigrant youths in particular.
Seeking to correct dominant narratives that singularly frame immigrant youths as gang members or criminals, instead, these youth wanted to develop digital stories that captured “what we want people to know about us” or an accurate version of who young Guatemalan immigrants are.
For nine weeks, with the support of Mujeres Victoriosas in New Bedford, Northeastern University, and Massachusetts Humanities, we met with the youths and guided them as they set out to correct the record and tell their stories in their own voices, through digital testimonios.
Through tears but also laughter, our Caminos de Esperanza participants shared details about their lives, or why they felt compelled to leave everything that they loved, their families, their pets, their friends, in order to construct better material lives for themselves and their families and communities back home.
We learned about their courage and resilience as they encountered different forms of violence (physical, emotional, and State) on their journeys to the United States and even in New Bedford. We were able to witness how the youths hold on to the hope that they will attain their dreams, dreams that most people regardless of citizenship possess: to obtain financial stability for themselves and their families; to reach their full potentials, personally and professionally; to help their communities, etc. This hope shares the same breath as fears: fears that they will not be able to reach their dreams and increasingly, with the acts of brute force, terror and disappearing enacted by the State, that they or their family members will be subject to these cruel policies and practices — forcibly separated from their families, including their own children, and detained and or deported without due process.
Over the nine weeks, we came to know these trilingual (Spanish, English, and K’iche) youths as smart, funny, determined, curious, studious, civic-minded, compassionate, family and community-oriented leaders who are wholly aware of how they are characterized and are subject to layers of racist nativism across the settings in which they engage: in their schools, in their workplaces, and even in their communities.
Every day, these youths courageously interact in a world that constantly broadcasts the falsehood that they do not belong when the fact is that they do belong, if only for the long history of U.S. imperial interventions in Guatemala that exacerbated conditions that forced them to leave.
In the midst of state-sanctioned terror, it is important that we create safe spaces where immigrant youths can express themselves and continue to develop academically as well as emotionally, and continue to heal from the violences that they have experienced.
During our nine weeks, our project provided this space so that the youths could tell their stories but also confidently share how they imagined their futures. It was glaringly obvious that these youths can and will contribute to New Bedford and become the city’s next generation of educators, lawyers, social workers, engineers, chefs, digital creators, documentarians, and so on. But only if we support and protect them.
For that reason, we are so pleased that the New Bedford School Committee voted to adopt a “Safe Zone” policy so that immigrant youths can freely engage in learning without fear. Bravo!
We also urge New Bedford and Massachusetts to invest more money in providing legal representation for the youths. As indigenous Mayan youths in New Bedford, they are absolutely eligible for legal protections such as Special Immigrant Juvenile status and/or asylum, protections that are under attack by the Trump administration but that would enable them to pursue their dreams.
In a previous study of mostly Central American youths in New York who were able to and were granted green cards based on these protections, many continued to obtain gainful employment, enroll in higher education, purchase homes, have families, and most important to them, were able to return home and reunite with their parents who they had not seen since they had left their homes years before. There is no reason that New Bedford’s Guatemalan immigrant youth couldn’t achieve similarly, but only if ample legal representation was available.
We wanted to end this piece by sharing the three main things that the youths collectively wanted people to understand about them: This included that (in their voices):
● (We) are not criminals; we are here to construct a future and to give a future and better life to our families; No somos criminales; estamos aqui para construir un futuro y dar mejor vida a nuestras familias.
● (We) should not be discriminated against for bringing our culture to this country; No deben ser discriminados por traer nuestra cultura a este pais.
● (We) want our papers so that we can visit our parents because many of them are ill and we want to see them; Queremos nuestros papeles para visitar a nuestros padres porque muchos de ellos estan enfermos y queremos verlos.
Dr. Isabel Martinez is the Ellen Riojas Clark PhD Endowed Chair at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Maria José Morales, LMHC, is an independent mental health counselor. Cassandra Tanks is a Ph.D. candidate from Northeastern University. This essay was written in conjunction with Mujeres Victoriosas and the Caminos de Esperanza Project.
Some of these Guatemalans just might be good people, at the end of the article they make one statement and two requests. I would really like to have heard from them on who advised them to come here illegally and if they feel that they have broken any laws. The argument to keep blaming Trump and ICE is getting old, it’s time for the illegals to take responsibility for their actions. Everyone is welcome to come to United States, but you must come hear legally. And just remember if Joe Biden did not leave the borders open for four years, we wouldn’t have this problem.
100% correct
What would New Bedford be liker to day if Joe had not cheated?
Most of New Bedford’s Guatemalans came in under Trump’s first term.
This article was about a lot more than Trump and ICE, but that’s a different discussion. You say, “take responsibility for their actions,” like immigrants deserve to live in fear and get put in a jail without due process. Do you think they deserve to be deported to countries they didn’t even come from too? Where’s the proportionality? In America, justice is applied unequally, with wealth and power often determining “guilt.” But no matter how “guilty” someone is, they should never be treated as if they have no right to humanity. These kids are asking to be seen for who they are, and whatever their citizenship status, they are more than that. Everyone is.
Yes Jeff, you are correct. Their families can volunteer to go back and apply to come here legally. Illegal is illegal, try to go to any Latin American Country without documentation, expect to get a job, healthcare and education. I know exactly what would happen because I lived in one of those countries for 10 years and had to jump through all the hoops.
100%
I know no person who stereotypes Guatemalan youth as gang members.
It’s my opinion that that comment is substantially off base.
Yes, obviously, no one should be in any nation illegally
Seriously, Rui? They would know best how they’re being treated. You can’t tell someone that their experiences aren’t their experiences because you don’t know anyone who would do that. It’s not too much to ask to treat others how you’d wish to be treated. And I’m pretty sure you don’t want anyone telling you that your experience is wrong because it didn’t happen to them or something. I’ll give you an example. Have you ever been to a store and encountered someone who was rude to you and no one else? I have, and I never liked hearing, “Are you sure? She’s always so nice to me.”
I would have liked to have seen those creations, and it’s a shame that the US government is still dragging its feet on creating policies that work. If we do not encourage the bright, young people within our borders, we’ll miss out on all that they could become.
Regardless of how one came into the country, they should never be treated with cruelty. As much as America needs to sort out its immigration policies, racism and xenophobia are not the answer. Living in a hateful country hurts everyone. One way or another, the consequences of hate reduce the quality of everyone’s lives.
The point of this opinion was to highlight the humanity of these Guatemalan youths. They urged us to look beyond the “stereotypes” that are being created and exploited for someone else’s gain. To reduce these kids to representations of “illegal” misses the whole point. There are those who look upon any brown face and think immigrant; yet, America is diverse. Skin color isn’t an indicator of citizenship status, much less criminality. The same goes for the ability to speak more than one language and speaking accented English. No matter how you feel about another person’s race, heritage, citizenship status, etc, just don’t assume the worst. That’s all these kids are asking for. They’re asking to be seen as fellow human beings who deserve as much care and consideration as anyone else.
Every day of the week, we might encounter someone that bothers us in one way or another, and we do not treat them poorly. We can extend that same courtesy to immigrants, of any status, too. Surely, with all the videos that have been captured, it’s obvious that cruelty is not the answer.
FYI… There are no immigration policies that need to be straightened out, The United States has Immigration Laws that are no longer being enforced by the Democrat controlled states, like Massachusetts, a state that wasted over $1 Billion tax payer dollars to house, clothe, feed, educate, and provide healthcare, all at the expense of the middle class and wealthy tax payers of MA. Since you’re so concerned with how they’re viewed, and treated, why don’t you adopt a family of 4 and pay for all their expenses?