We are honored to share this email from E4FC family member Nadia Rojas. Nadia is currently a Research Assistant at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and formerly served as an E4FC's Outreach Ambassador and Policy Team Advocate.

                                                                                           December 20, 2016

Dear E4FC Family,

Christmas used to be my favorite time of the year, but now I dread the holiday.

It was exactly 10 years ago today, five days before Christmas, when my world came crashing down. At 6 in the morning, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials appeared at our front door and took my family away.

Nadia Rojas and her family in 1993

I used to love the brightly colored Christmas decorations my father would proudly place all around our home, including a giant snowman that sat smiling on top of our roof. Had there been a contest for most decorated house on the block, ours would surely have won. I also loved doing last-minute Christmas shopping with my brother. He probably thought I tagged along with him because he always let me choose my own present, but truthfully I just enjoyed spending time with him.

I hold these holidays memories tight in my heart because they are the last ones I have of my family together.

When ICE came to my home in 2006, I was 19 and a sophomore at UC Berkeley. We had just been told that, after 17 years of making the U.S. our home, we had to leave the U.S. and return to a country that I, personally, could no longer remember.

Denisse Rojas (left) & Nadia Rojas (right)
That day was a nightmare, but even more difficult days awaited me. Birthdays, holidays, college graduations, and other special occasions have all been spent apart from my immediate family members. Neither my brother nor my mother were able to see me receive my master’s degree in Public Health from UC Davis in 2013. My brother was married last year, but neither my sister nor I was unable to attend his wedding.

Current immigration law does not allow my parents and brother to return to the U.S. Although I have been granted a reprieve from deportation under President Obama's DACA program, I cannot visit them for fear I won't be allowed back. My younger sister is my only immediate family member in the U.S.

My family is only one of thousands torn apart by deportation every day. This Christmas, millions of families like mine will sit amongst empty chairs at their dinner tables.

President-elect Donald Trump has promised to deport up to three million undocumented immigrants. He has also promised to revoke DACA as soon as he becomes president. If Trump keeps his promises, millions more families will be torn apart.

From the broken heart of someone whose family has already been separated
, I ask you to join me in finding more humane, common-sense solutions to our country's immigration challenges.

I hope, one day, to be able to spend Christmas with my family again.

Sincerely,

Nadia Rojas
Research Assistant at UC Berkeley School of Public Health
Former E4FC Outreach Ambassador and Policy Team Advocate
 

 

About Educators for Fair Consideration (E4FC)

Founded in 2006, Educators for Fair Consideration (E4FC) empowers undocumented young people to achieve educational and career goals through personal, institutional and policy transformation. We envision an America where all young people can pursue and complete an education with confidence and without constraint.
We are a fiscally-sponsored project of Community Initiatives.
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