Immigration, legal and illegal alike, affects families. Whether family members are left behind in their home country, families have mixed statuses, people are restricted due to their status, or the family dynamic simply changes, immigration takes a toll. There are thousands of families in the United States who struggle due to their illegal status. This, as well as the national predicament of what to do with these illegal families, is the topic of the article "Family life a complex affair for immigrants."
One of the main foci of this article is the problematic situation of a family with mixed status. One woman interviewed for the article was an illegal immigrant, while her children were born in the Untied States, making them citizens. As a result, her children traveled to Brazil, their home country, for a visit while the mother was forced to stay in the U.S. If she left, chances are she wouldn't be able to return. For another family in the article, the mother and one child were illegal because they had crossed together, and the younger child was legal because he was born in the United States. There are millions of similar cases out there today. According to the article, approximately 4 million children in the U.S. have at least one illegal parent.
Another family problem resulting from immigration is those who are left behind. In some families, parents leave their children with family members while they try to create a better life in the United States, sending for their children later. Even if the entire family leaves together, relatives will still be left in the home country: grandparents, aunt, uncles, cousins, and family friends.
Reyna's family seemed to be in a combination of all the predicaments listed above. By the time Reyna reached age four, both of her parents had already left for "El Otro Lado." Reyna spent years of her life wanting nothing more than to see her parents again. She had almost given up hope all together. "We were still his children, weren't we? He wouldn't forsake us, would he? We needed to believe in something, for what would happen once we lost our faith in both our parents and had nothing left to hope for?" (Grande 105).
Eventually, both parents do return (separately, however), and Reyna's father takes the children to America. Since Reyna's parents had another child, Betty, in the U.S. Reyna now has a sibling who is a citizen. Also, Reyna's stepmother Mila is a legal citizen of the United States, so Reyna grew up in a family of mixed status. As a result, only Mila could fulfill family responsibilities such as taking children to the doctor, amongst other things. Reyna's legal sister Betty could take a plane to Mexico, while the rest of the family had to run across the border. It wasn't until years later that Reyna and her family received citizenship of the United States.
However, much more important than the struggles of growing up in a family with mixed statuses and mixed privileges was how the family's immigration irrevocably changed each of the members. As a young child, Reyna and her siblings had no parent figure, other than their cruel grandmother. Reyna's sister Mago was forced to act like the mother to Reyna and Carlos. "Mago looked at Carlos, then at me. I don't know what my sister saw in my eyes that made her face soften. Had she realized then how much I would need her? Had she known that without her strength and unwavering love, I would not have survived what was to come?" (Grande 12). Carlos grows up with no father figure, and Reyna grows up with the feeling of abandonment.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the border, Reyna's parents split up. This crushes the children's hopes of ever reuniting as a family. The parents, in an attempt to hurt the other, use the children as weapons against each other. When Reyna's father comes to take the children to America, Reyna's mother does not let him take Betty, who is a legal citizen was returned to Mexico with Reyna's mother after the divorce.
Despite the fact that the family (or most of it, anyway), is back together, the years spent apart had created an insurmountable rift between them. They were no longer the people they had once been. "The father in in this house didn't know me. He didn't know me at all. And I didn't know him" (Grande 191). Reyna's father abuses the children, while Reyna's mother abandons them over and over again in favor of her newest boyfriend. The family will never be the same.
Immigration affects everyone. It affects every single member of the family involved. It affects the relatives and friends left behind. It affects those who encounter illegal immigrants. It affects our government officials. It affects everyone in the United States. Immigration can break families, or it can injure them. A illegal or mixed-status family will always be hindered in some way, and if family members are separated too long, it changes the family dynamic forever. In Reyna Grande's words, "Immigration took a toll on us all" (Grande 207).
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