For centuries, mass deportations, pushed by politicians, have negatively impacted Hispanic communities, whether citizens or noncitizens of the United States. Despite studies showing economic boosts from immigration, political rhetoric still spreads racist narratives.
In President Trump’s speech where he first announced he was running in 2015, he referred to Mexicans as “rapists” and said they’re “bringing drugs, they are bringing crime.”
Blake Masters, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2022, ran a political ad calling to “end the invasion,” referring to Hispanic immigrants and asylum seekers as people who are “invading” the United States.
In another speech while in Michigan last year, President Trump said, “Democrats said ‘please don’t call them animals.’ I said ‘no, they’re not humans, they’re animals,’” referring to immigrants.
“I feel like it’s unfair to Hispanic people who’ve been here for so long and have a big impact in the United States, and I don’t think people realize that,” said one 15-year-old Hispanic teen, who wishes to remain anonymous due to their family’s lack of citizenship. I’ll be calling them Bluey.
I asked how they felt during this time of modern mass deportation, feeling prepared to write and fully understand the heavy emotions I knew came with that question. However, I was unprepared and shocked at the answers I received.
Because I am not Hispanic and only know the perspective of being a first-generation Jamaican, I cannot fully grasp the experience of Hispanic teens. However, based on what I’ve heard from my friends, whom I’ll call Polka-dot and Bluey to protect their identities, there is an immense amount of fear that they wouldn’t wish on anyone.
In the Hispanic community, both citizens and noncitizens have faced the risk of expulsion, with mass deportation dating back to the 1930s. According to Erin Blakemore’s History.com article titled “The Long History of Anti‑Latino Discrimination in America,” the Hispanic, and primarily Mexican, immigrant community has faced racist rhetoric for a long time.
After the U.S. gained Mexican territory in what we know as Texas in the 1840s, the country expanded and developed railways. The United States coerced both Mexicans living in the territory and in Mexico to work on railroads for cheap labor.
According to a study in the National Institute of Medicine titled “Intergenerational trauma in Latinxs: A scoping review,” this trauma has been passed down for generations, and so have the adjectives “lazy,” “stupid,” and “ungrateful” used to falsely identify the Hispanic community.
Bluey and Polka-dot have faced discrimination due to their backgrounds. However, unexpectedly, Bluey’s most profound memory is discrimination from their community, with a Mexican boy commenting on her body hair in elementary school. She was surprised that another Mexican would be so cruel to bruise the image of her beauty for the pleasure of a laugh.
Not only that, but her parents did not prepare her for discrimination.
I imagine you can only prepare your children so much. I imagine it’s hard to tell your children — whose baby laughs rang with innocence and whose mouths you taught to say pure phrases like “I love you” — that they will be labeled criminals simply because of their heritage. I imagine it makes them want to push their children to rise above the stereotypes.
Bluey’s and Polka-dot’s parents, who have faced much discrimination, have urged them to focus on academia as a way to rise above political labels. Bluey recalls her mother being “passionate for me to be really good at English and school because she didn’t want me to get treated how she did in high school.”
Bluey’s mother says she’s faced a lot of discrimination when she moved from Mexico because “she would have a better life, and she didn’t enjoy her household in Mexico.”
When Bluey’s mom moved to Atlanta, she developed trauma from her high school experience as a Hispanic woman. Bluey’s and Polka-dot’s families moved to this country for better opportunities. Bluey’s dad didn’t talk about his immigration process. Polka-dot’s mother established a life in Mexico with two daughters before she had Polka-dot.
Unfortunately, Polka-dot’s mother found herself poor and, by this point, she had to make the hardest decision of her life: leaving her family in Mexico for a better life in the United States. While in the United States, Polka-dot’s mother met her father, who moved here when he was 15 “because he was also poor.”
Bluey and Polka-dot can only push their anxieties down so far anytime one of their parents is out a little later than usual. No matter what, without fail, Polka-dot will still call her parents for reassurance that they aren’t in custody. Anxiety-spiking fear comes with being Hispanic in the United States, especially while being a teen.
“It’s kind of scary,” Polka-dot says, “even though we’re teenagers, and we’re basically about to be grown-ups — it’s still scary.” For many Hispanic kids, fear makes them feel they need to take on adult responsibilities early. “I feel like I want to grow up quicker,” said Polka-dot, “so I could help him [her father] get those documents because I think we can help them apply.”
These fears are generational and make Bluey, along with many Hispanic teens, “wish that our words were loud enough for there to be change.”
Despite the idea of not being loud enough to have an impact, some things keep them going. They pack away their constant reminders of the risk of being separated from the people who gave them life. Instead, they look to the future and chase it for their parents.
“It’s kind of like you want to be your best self,” Polka-dot stated. “My parents didn’t have the opportunity that we have. So, as their children that were born here, we have to take this opportunity to actually do better and to show them that you came here for a reason.”
They appreciate everything their parents have done and continue to do for them. No matter what, they are proud of their Hispanic heritage. They stay present and chase a future where they can help secure a green card and citizenship for their parents. They chase this future while balancing their teenage life, academia, love, and mental health. They chase this future to secure a more stable means of reassurance on nights when their families are out late.
They chase their parents’ dreams while living through a nightmare.
