03/13/2026
Millions of U.S. families of Mexican descent have in their family history ancestors who crossed the border from present day Mexico. Some of us may also have some ancestors who originated in the U.S. Southwest when it was still part of Mexico. They didn't cross the border, the border crossed them.
In the case of my family, I was born here, as well as my parents. My two grandmothers were born here in the Southwest, too. My grandfathers were born in present day Mexico, and although one of them had a U.S. birth certificate, he had always insisted that he was born in Mexico.
The Border Patrol was not established until 1924. My grandfathers came to the U.S. before then. The border was open, both Americans and Mexicans frequently crossing, back and forth, without issue. My grandfathers crossed the border without legal immigration documents.
My grandfathers came from the poverty stricken post-Revolutionary War Mexico as laborers in the burgeoning agricultural industry and the building of the railroad in the U.S.
This work entailed migrating across the States of the U.S. Southwest to labor in the fields, orchards, farms, and ranches as they followed the planting and harvest seasons. They did this in order to provide for their children, their grandchildren, and for all those who followed.
I have very clear childhood memories of living in labor camps; my adult family members working under the hot sun; low wages; and enduring brutal working conditions. We had to move all the time.
From those meager beginnings, my grandparents provided me, and all of their other descendants, an opportunity to have a better life than the one that might have been ours instead.
I am grateful. I will never forget. I will always honor them.
Unfortunately, too many of our people, do forget.
Too many of our people support the deporting of immigrants, forgetting where they come from, who they come from. They say to themselves, "I'm in. I got mine. Now, close the door behind me!" They have moved on. In fact, many now look down on the immigrant as inferior. They forget their roots. They deny their origins and their heritage and in doing so, they dishonor their ancestors. They, in fact, dishonor themselves.
It saddens me, angers me, and hurts me to see it.
So, yeah, the ICE raids... it's personal.
