Mother who moved to New Mexico concerned about delay in US citizenship
The current political climate surrounding deportation and immigration has one woman worried for her future.
"We are all very scared at home," Rosa said. "It is a psychological damage that is already in the children. I live in fear, forever, of opening the door, looking at who opens it."
More than 20 years ago, she came across the southern border. Rosa was escaping an abusive husband and she hired help to get her across the border.
She carried her child while she was pregnant with her second on the journey.
"I was a pregnant woman walking with a 1-and-a-half-year-old child on my shoulders," Rosa said.
During her on-foot journey, Rosa said she was thinking about her children. After restarting her life in Phoenix, Arizona, she eventually came and stayed in New Mexico.
That is due in part to the sanctuary laws for undocumented immigrants in Albuquerque.
"If you didn't have problems, this city gave you the opportunity, and for me it was true," Rosa said. "I started studying, I got a good job, I got ahead. I love this city."
When Rosa first moved to Albuquerque, it was considered a sanctuary city. That meant city resources were not shared with Immigration and Customs Enforcement on detaining undocumented immigrants.
This changed in 2010 after former Republican Mayor Richard Berry took office. He established a prisoner transport center and gave ICE an office there.
Video below: Ride along with Border Patrol at southern border
In addition to that, every person arrested in Albuquerque had their immigration status checked. Eight years later, the sanctuary city policies were reinstated after his election win.
Rosa has hired an immigration attorney as she tries to become a citizen through the Violence Against Women Act. Despite delays in the citizenship process, Rosa said she must continue.
"This is for people who are victims. I have a year and a half in the process, but still no answer," Rosa said.
Rosa has since graduated from higher education with an associate's degree in early child care after her journey. She's been working in that career field for nine years.
In addition to her success, Rosa expressed happiness for the successes of her three children, whom she has raised in the place she now calls home.
"My son is valedictorian in his last year in high school," Rosa said. "I have my daughter who is almost done in mechanical engineering and I have another daughter in the hospital now, she's a nurse. I think I made the best for my children."
But she now lives in fear since President Donald Trump took office for the second time.
Only once in the last two decades has she gone back home to Mexico. That last trip was for her fatherās funeral in 2005. Now, she wants to go back for her mother, who is sick and dying.
Rosa wants to see her, but is unsure of her return to the U.S., due to current policies established by Trump. She said her lack of a Visa also makes it more difficult.
"I have my mom in the hospital right now, very sic,k and I can't go out of the country. So I'm divided because I can not go see her, I can no longer be with her in Mexico," Rosa said. "But my children are also studying, and they need me. Also, but Iām my momās only daughter."
That trip was going to cost her $10,000 to get help from a coyote, slang for a person who smuggles migrants across the border. That expense is being added to her having to pay taxes for her illegal citizenship.
"That's what I don't understand. You don't have the permission to be here, but you do have the permission to pay taxes," Rosa said.
For decades, many immigrants have used what is called an "Individual Tax Identification Number," issued by the IRS. These were issued whether a person was documented or not.
Immigration rights activist Marcella Diaz said others simply don't pay taxes.
"Since the mid-90s, the IRS has been issuing these individual tax identification numbers for people who do not qualify for a Social Security number," Diaz said.
