Ashley Mantilla, age 15, is a student at Escuela Secundria Tecnica Numero 26 in central Mexico. She had been a student in South Carolina where she ate turkey on Thanksgiving and was sometimes bullied by her classmates, who told her to go back to Mexico. She would say, “I don’t know Mexico. I’m from here.”
Then, in 2012, Nikki Haley, governor of South Carolina, signed a “show me your papers” law. The parents, undocumented, remembered when a poultry plant was raided and many of the workers were deported without their children. Not willing to take that chance, they decided to move back to Mexico, even though their three kids had been born here and were American citizens.
Ashley is one of about 600,000 American-born children who are enrolled in K-12 across Mexico. Since the parents often lack proper documentation, the kids may miss months of schooling. They must learn Spanish and try to forget their past life. In Ashley’s school fellow students come from Virginia, Oklahoma, Tennessee, California, and New York.
How in God’s name is this kind of thing making America great again? Trumpists say people like me are unfair to their hero. They say that Trump is doing good things. I don’t see it.
I read about Ashley Mantilla in The Week, April 19, 2019, pp. 36-37.
Individual one appears to be getting his due. I think the Mueller report that came out today is very damaging. Hopefully in January of 2021 things will start to change.
ReplyDeleteI feel for people like Ashley but for now they are stuck in Mexico. Sad!