Every June, we celebrate Immigrant Heritage Month. The celebration was first launched in 2014 by the I Stand With Immigrants Initiative. The goal is to share stories, empower immigrants, and demonstrate how valuable immigrants are in the communities, economy, and country they share. It also encourages everyone to celebrate and explore their heritage and celebrate all of our experiences.
As a part of Immigrant Heritage Month, we want to share our own stories here at Hope Immigration. Every day, we work hard to help our clients immigrate to the US and gain status to remain here. However, many of our team members are immigrants themselves or have a strong immigrant heritage. Below, each team member has written a bit about themselves and their backgrounds. We hope you enjoy learning some more about the team and celebrating them during this month of immigrant heritage.
Check out the hashtags and link below for more information and content for Immigrant Heritage Month!
#CelebrateUs #IAmAnImmigrant #ToImmigrantsWithLove #ImmigrantHeritageMonth
https://www.iamanimmigrant.com/
Alina
Senior Paralegal
I was raised in Ecatepec De Morelos, a municipality in the State of Mexico. I’ve been living in Atlanta, GA for the past 26 years. For many years I lived with the fear of deportation until an unexpected opportunity came into my life and I obtained legal status. Early this year I finally became a U.S Citizen.
It is hard to even think about how I overcame so many hurdles and challenges as an immigrant. From adapting to a different country, experiencing family separation, learning the language, dealing with a different school system, and dealing with the immigration system. When I went back to my country for the first time after so many years, I immediately realized how your heart can be divided into two by now having two amazing cultures within you.
For the past nine years working in this immigration law firm, I have connected with different people from different parts of the world and different situations. I know for a fact that every story is unique and important and that every person deserves a chance. My only hope is that as immigrants we never forget where we come from and always have empathy for the new immigrants by helping them in the way that we wished we would have been helped. For all those new immigrants, be thankful and be kind to those who give you a hand because your life it’s about to change.
Sandra
Paralegal
I was born in Long Beach, California. I am a first-generation Mexican-American who grew up in San Pedro, California.
As a child, I grew up learning about the immigration system through my family members. My maternal grandfather, Pedro Perez, was born in Iowa because his parents immigrated there from Guanajuato, Mexico in 1928. His parents passed away due to an illness and my grandfather became an orphan. He was sent back to Mexico at five years old and lived there until he was 60 years old. In the 80s, he decided to move to California where some of his nephews already lived, and decided to establish himself there. Years later, he petitioned for his five adult children and their spouses along with their children for permanent residence. Immigration has always been a big part of my life and I am so grateful he decided to migrate to the country where he was born.
I also endured the separation from my father due to deportation and when I became 21, I petitioned for him, but we later found out that he needed a waiver for claiming false U.S citizenship at the border. After almost 18 years, he was able to come to the U.S. as a legal permanent resident.
I have also first-hand experienced the long and difficult I-601A consular process with my husband and went with him to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico last year for his interview with our six-month-old baby and one-year-old toddler. I still cannot believe that we went through all of this!
My personal experiences have allowed me to relate to our client’s stories and I am grateful to have the opportunity to help every client the best way possible.
Paula
Paralegal
I am proud to be Colombian. My country is beautiful, diverse, you can have the most beautiful mountains in one extreme and the most beautiful beaches in the other extreme of the country. If you want flowers, Colombia has them all. And, of course, if you are looking to try the best coffee, you will find the one in Colombia.
When I came to the United States 22 years ago, I wasn’t expecting to stay forever and later call it my home. My heart then divided in two when I decided to stay; everytime I visited Colombia, I missed the United States and the amazing life I was creating here. God gave me an incredible husband who is from Argentina. I met him here and together we are creating a family, the family I always dreamed of. We have two beautiful boys.
In my house we speak Spanish – my husband speaks Argentinean and I speak Colombian. Believe it or not, we speak very differently, our accents and the way we name fruits, food, items can change a lot. My boys only want to speak English, but we always tell them that we don’t understand because we want them to be bilingual.
Now my heart is divided in three pieces: Colombia, United States, and Argentina. As a family we have had the opportunity to travel to our home countries and we loved it. Everytime we have the opportunity to go and visit our loved ones, we do it and enjoy the food, the culture and our families who we left behind.
This month we celebrate the immigrant heritage. I want to celebrate our roots, our culture, our capacity to be out of our culture, far away from our loved ones. Immigrants are so brave, capable, and hard workers. We have charisma, we have the desire to do better wherever we go. I keep making sure that my Colombian Flag will always be part of me and my family for generations. I will never forget where I came from and never will have one day without being thankful for where I am.
Isabel
Support Specialist
I am a first-generation German-American from Marietta, Georgia. I was raised by German parents from Hannover and East Berlin who immigrated first to New Jersey in the 90s. My father first came to the US to pursue his Masters at Rutgers University. During that time, my parents were long-distance, with my mom back in Germany. The intention was never to end up staying in the US to raise a family, but his professor offered him a PhD position; later on, he also received a job offer from another professor. He called my mom to tell her the news and they got married soon after so she could join him in the US. Shortly after, I was born. Because I was born in the US, I automatically had American citizenship. Because of my parents, I automatically had German citizenship too.
Before they met, my parents were technically from two different countries. Growing up in East Berlin, my mom lived in what was then called the German Democratic Republic of Germany, which was separate from the Federal Republic of Germany, or West Germany, where my dad grew up. Only after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 did they have the chance to meet. My mom moved from East Berlin to Hannover in the West, which was a part of a big movement of, now internal, migration. I was born on the 9th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which led my parents to call me a “reunion child.”
Although I grew up in the US, my ties with Germany are extremely close. I was only six weeks old when I got my first passport and took my first flight across the Atlantic to meet my extended family in Germany. I was so small in my photo, you can see my dad’s hands holding me up against the backdrop. We only speak German at home and I spent my childhood summers visiting extended family in Germany. I am extremely grateful for my dual identity, and not just because of the dual citizenship. My immigration background has allowed me to have a different perspective on the world and it affords me with opportunities I would not have otherwise.
Tracie
Founding Attorney
Most immigration attorneys have an immigrant story of their own. I may not be an immigrant, but I certainly have a family full of immigrant stories. When I was a kid, my mom was married to someone from Mexico. I remember going to St. Louis with them for a hearing and then they went to Juarez when I was in high school to get his green card finalized. I don’t remember details, but I do remember the relief they showed when they got back home! When I was a senior in high school, my dad and step-mom adopted a nine-month old orphan from Russia. Again, I was too young to know any of the details, but I do remember them going to a ceremony in Kansas City where she got a little American flag to wave. Immigration has always been part of my family story.
I did an Ancestry test a few years back and my results weren’t too shocking. I’m 67% German, 25% British, 2% Ukrainian, 2% Native American, and 4% “unassigned.” I think most people from Kansas have a strong German background. I like to think I’m a pretty good mix, but I wish I knew more of the stories on why my ancestors came to the United States and when. When I travel to Europe, I wonder if I’m going to places that were their homes and if the family tree is coming full circle. I’ll never know, but every day I am thankful that those brave souls came to the United States!