Immigrating for a Better Future

“Yo estoy orgullosa, la verdad, mucho de mí, por lograr lo que he logrado en tan poco tiempo.”
“I am proud of what I have accomplished in such a short amount of time.”

Karina Saldiviar immigrated to the United States not long ago, in 2024. But in her short time here, she has been able to rent a house and obtain a car, which she uses to go to work and take her children to school. Her daily activities are like those of any other hard working, single parent with children.

“Me dedico a mi trabajo, a ir a buscar a mis hijos a la escuela. Llegamos acá hacemos algo entretenido o las cosas que hay que hacer en casa.”
“I dedicate myself to my job. Pick up my children at school. We get home and do something fun or do things we have to do around the house,” she describes. “Now that we have a house, I feel happy because we have a safe place for the three of us.” “ya tenemos la casa. Y eso a mí me pone muy feliz porque es un lugar seguro para nosotros, 3.”

Like any other parent, she is also proud of her children’s accomplishments. In 2024, she and her two children moved from Chile to Michigan. This meant living in a completely new climate, speaking a completely new language, and for her children, having to adjust to a new school, teachers, and friends. But her children are thriving – they have learned English and have settled into their new routines. “Thank god, they are both doing super well in school,” she says. “y les va, gracias a Dios súper bien en la escuela”

Anxiety about immigration enforcement

But like many immigrant families currently in the United States, Karina also described experiences of fear. The current administration’s unprecedented approach to immigration has many Latino families expressing concerns. Our survey showed that Latino parents viewed immigration reform as more important than any economic factors. Latino families are disproportionately impacted by the rise in deportations, and parents in particular (especially mothers) have been targeted. In Spanish-speaking households, 59% of Latino parents reported feeling the stress of fear of deportation. And Karina’s household was no exception.

“Como todo inmigrante al principio, es como todo nuevo, y uno comienza y a andar en las calles con mucho miedo por todo lo que se muestran en las redes sociales, las noticias…”
“Like all immigrants at first, everything is new, and one starts to go out into the streets with a lot of fear because of what you see on social media, in the news…” she said. But she emphasized that she is careful about how she talks about it with her children. She does not want to increase her children’s stress or anxiety about immigration. “I try everything possible not to instill more fear in them.” “Yo la verdad, trato todo lo posible de de no influenciarles más como el miedo.”

Karina also feels saddened by the strong government response on immigration enforcement. She expressed dismay at the overuse of power and recent deaths of U.S. citizens protesting immigration enforcement. “What I do not agree with is how the use of power has been applied, if you can say it like that. Unfortunately, people have died, people who are legally American. And that is sad. One does not expect things like that to happen.” “Lo que no estoy como de acuerdo es el cómo se lleva a la práctica todo este uso de poder sí que se puede decir de alguna forma. Lamentablemente, ya han muerto personas, personas que son hasta legalmente americanos. Y eso es triste porque uno no, no espera a que pasen esas cosas.”

Fear turned into avoidance

For many Latinos, concerns about immigration enforcement are translating into avoidance of important activities, and many Latino parents report avoiding schools, the reporting of crimes, and signing up for public benefits. In some families, avoidance has even gone as far as having children miss school.

Karina’s experience is consistent with the experiences of many Latino parents. On one occasion, she and her children stayed home because of warnings of immigration raids by ICE in her community. She remembers being asked not to go in to work by the woman she cleans houses with.

“It was two days straight when ICE was fully operating here, detaining people.” “Parece que fueron 2 días seguidos cuando estuvo, como full aquí a Ice tomando de tenía gente y todo el tema.”

She decided to keep her children at home with her as well, as it wouldn’t have served her much to stay home from work but still be out to take her children to school. She remembers it was snowy, and they decided to play in the snow. “We entertained ourselves by making snowmen on the patio. It was a lot of fun, like we needed that day off to do something fun and not focus on something that we should fear.” “Y nos entretuvimos en el patio haciendo monito de nieve. Y fue bien entretenido como que ocupamos ese día libre en entre comillas para hacer algo entretenido y no enfocarnos así como en algo que que le podíamos temer.” Karina emphasizes how she is making every effort to protect her children from the fear and anxiety of immigration enforcement.

Looking towards a brighter future

Despite the current climate regarding immigration, Karina expressed hopefulness about her future. She sees her move to the United States as a new start that has brought things to her and her family that she would have never been able to achieve in her home country.

“For me, coming here was a new beginning and everything I live, see, and learn, I am grateful for because I would have never had the opportunity in my own country to have the things that I have obtained in the short time I have been here.” “Para mí, el llegar acá fue un nuevo comienzo y todo lo que yo vivo, veo, conozco, lo agradezco porque jamás se me iba a dar la oportunidad, en mi propio país de tener las cosas que hasta el momento, al corto tiempo que llevo aquí, las he obtenido”

She also stressed her optimism for her children’s future. Her goal is to continue in the United States and to keep working hard, and this goal is fueled by the possibilities and opportunities that her children will have here for their education. “I came focused on one idea. My main idea was to ensure that tomorrow, my children will be able to go to college, to be able to obtain a home here,” Karina says. “My focus is to work hard to the point that I can say: it doesn’t matter how tired I am, it all is worth it because tomorrow there will be fruits and those fruits will be the future of my children.” “Siempre me vine como enfocada en una idea. Y mi idea principal era poder que el día de mañana mis hijos pudieran ir a la Universidad. Poder obtener una casa acá.” “Mi enfoque es de esforzarme hasta el punto de decir: no importa qué tan cansada pueda llegar a estar. pero lo vale porque el día de mañana va a dar fruto y esos frutos van a ser el futuro de mis hijos”