Karen Garcia is experiencing family separation for the second time in her life.
The first time around was in 2000, when her father, Ignacio Garcia, decided he had to leave his wife, his daughter and two sons behind in Guadalajara, Mexico, as he looked for better economic opportunities in the United States.
The second time, it was her older brother, Ignacio Jr., 25, who moved away, back to their home country, where it all began.
The first time, it took two years for Karen and her brothers to reunite with their father on American soil. Now, she doesn’t know when she will see her brother again.
Karen said that ever since she was a young girl, she had a very close relationship with her father.
But that changed through their separation.
“I feel like after he [her father] moved, and when I came [to the U.S.], I wasn’t the same girl, so the relationship was never the same even though I still love my dad,” said Karen, 22.
But the family dynamic kept growing positively until 2010, when her brother decided to go back to Mexico because he thought there were no more opportunities for him to succeed in America without a college degree and a legal status.
Ignacio Jr. wanted to become an architect, but he saw his undocumented status in the United States as an obstacle to achieving it. He was not able to enroll in a university without a social security number. His only viable option was to move back to the country he came from.
Now, Karen fears the relationship with her older brother will change as well.
Gabriela Vasquez, their mother, said she was afraid of never seeing her first born again.
“I felt lost all the time,” she said. “In many occasions, I would forget my home address because I found myself wondering how my son was doing.”
Karen was able to benefit from the law of deferred action and is currently a student at Miami Dade College.
But her older brother made his decision before the law was granted for childhood arrivals in 2012.
“I have deferred action, but it’s only me,” said Karen, who can now go to school, has a work permit and is allowed to have a drivers’ license. “My parents are still driving without a driver’s license, and they’re still scared. I’m always freaking out I don’t know if they’re going to come home.”
Karen is one of the 455,000 young undocumented immigrants who have already benefited from the deferred action law. But the way she sees it, she’s part of a family — a family that does not want to be separated.
“We want our parents to be included because we don’t want family separation,” said Karen. “It’s not a moral thing.”
Karen’s 14-year-old younger brother, Oswaldo, agrees.
He worries about his safety and fears being separated from his parents.
“Where I don’t feel safe is with my parents in the car,” said Oswaldo. “I don’t know if they [police] are going to stop them, pull them over, and I’m going to have to go to foster care because there’s nobody legal here to take care of me.”
Their parents still live under the shadows in a humble home in Fort Lauderdale – and that is unacceptable, said Karen.
“I don’t want myself to be driving comfortable if my parents are driving in fear,” said Karen. “I don’t want to have to wake up every single day fearing that this might be the last day we’re going to be together as a family.”