My Name is Israel and I am Undocumented

by Dave Bennion

category: DREAM Act

Published May 22, 2009 @ 08:00AM PT

This week's guest Dreamer is Israel.  Visit Dreamactivist.org to find out how you can help pass the DREAM Act.

The Dream Act of 2009 is an opportunity because I know there are many Latinos that want to be someone in this life and have high goals of achieving a degree. I am writing this because it fits me best as a young Latino man, trying to become not just an asset to this country but also a citizen.

1985 is when my life started and since birth I have been a strong individual with the desire to succeed, but also work hard for what I want in life. I will be a proud father this August and am engaged to my beautiful fiancée of six years. I am one of seven children. My two older brothers Luis and Daniel were also born in Mexico, which has made life a bit challenging for us. My parents are very traditional; with old country backgrounds and have very inspirational stories to tell as well. Born in Tijuana, Mexico, we battled troubles with money, a place to live in and call home. Tragedy struck my family early on when I was born, unfortunately my twin sister didn’t make the birth as I did. Stricken by the death, my father, with little money, made a big decision to have a better life for us. Two weeks after my birth, we packed a few belongings and migrated into California. Walking many miles, hiding in trees, bushes and shrubs, and with fear in our minds we chose to make this decision for the American Dream and a better life for our family.

Growing up in California was tough for us because we never really had our own place much less our own beds to sleep in. From sleeping in one-bedroom apartment floors we were always cramped. Not many clothes to wear day by day really made living uncomfortable. Moving place to place was also hard because we weren’t able to afford some places to pay the rent. We lived in garages, one-bedroom apartments and relatives’ spare bedrooms. Birthdays, Thanksgiving and Christmas would go by but my father wouldn’t have money to buy us our cakes, presents, or even have parties. Money trouble and job trouble also brought family problems. My father became an alcoholic and that was tough seeing my parents arguing all the time. Quickly my brothers and I grew up and became real close during times like this and knew since we didn’t have all the presents in the world we still have each other.

The birth of my brother Juan came in 1986 and throughout the years other siblings would follow: Jessica in 1988 and Roxana in 1989. In August of 1989, I would enter my first year of kindergarten. Speaking only Spanish, it was hard for me to make friends and tough for me to learn how to write and read English. My father still had a drinking problem but it slowed down since we first moved to California. He had a steady job as an apprentice making cabinets and other wood products. I would soon be starting the second grade when I first heard news we were moving to Arizona to start over again. Learning English was very easy for me in and later reading and writing became a bit challenging. Meeting new friends and just getting the hang of school was fun.

June of 1992 is when we got all of our belongings together and flew over to Arizona. Leaving family, friends, and a bad past behind us was a great opportunity to start over. I would begin 3rd grade at a small elementary school in Mesa. This is where my trouble with reading, writing, would start and I would attend a program after school called E.S.L. English as a Second Language was the best idea for me where I figured out how to put sentences together and also read fluently. I made new friends and my dad started his job with my uncle that we moved down here and stayed with. A year would pass by where we finally were able to get a place of our own. No more sleeping on floors--having beds to sleep on made everything better. My mother would soon be pregnant again and gave birth to the seventh child in our family in 1992. What brought us closer as a family is we all enjoyed playing sports. Having six kids running around wildly was a handful for my mom, but we were very completive with each other. My dad bought us a basketball hoop which we would play on it for hours. Later that hoop would be a big part of my life.

As I entered middle school, I became more active with after school sports. Football, basketball, and track were always on my mind and keeping my grades up. In my 7th grade year I received a letter from the principal that I was chosen to be a member of the National Junior Honor Society in 1999 and also my 8th grade year of 2000. Being part of the NJHS was a great deal for me because I was recognized with an assembly with a special diploma averaging over a 3.5 percent as my grade point average.

As I entered high school at Apache Junction High School my older brother Luis was in his second year of college and was working full-time paying bills for the family. Daniel as well did the same and went to the same community college near by.  I look up to them a lot because without their help we would have never been able to get a house of our dreams! After all the years of sleeping on the ground, sharing rooms with four people and having one bathroom. This was a big dream for my parents and us as well. I was proud to come home and relax and play around for the years to come. I played every sport that I could in high school. Football, basketball, baseball and finally track I would try out. All the years of playing basketball with my brothers would pay off. I made the varsity team as a sophomore in high school and had great years playing till I was a senior in high school. As a junior I was named All-region basketball player in 2003 and in 2004 made All-state honorable mention with the most dedicated as well for my school. Shortly basketball season ended and so did my senior year of high school. I was dedicated to helping out at my local church with a program called Young Life. Basically I helped with the church service and got more kids to join our group on Sunday and Thursday nights to talk about God. Some activities that I got hooked on were paintball; it was a great way to spread the word of God. I helped out on weekends to referee and set up the fields for kids to play throughout the day. That kept me occupied for sometime, not knowing what I wanted to as my career soon the interest of fire fighting came up. It was an easy decision when most of my friends dads we already firemen and also knew me for a number of years that I went to school with their kids.

Graduating from Apache Junction High School on May 23, 2004 was great accomplishment, suddenly reality started to kick in. With the obvious started to make sense now I knew something had to be done for my future be a successful one. I started work with my dad at this construction job, which made me grow up very fast where I could make it in some career. Going to college was put on hold because I had to work and help pay bills at the house we lived in. Working 55 hours a week is very tough but the pay was good. I started to think that this isn’t what I want to for the rest of my life so I attend Mesa Community College and Central Arizona College in the spring of 2006. Waking up early in the morning and working 10 hour days and after that going to school for a couple hours was exhausting. I went to school for a full year and taking classes was great. With Fire fighting on my mind, I was set to do this for the rest of my life. I would join an organization called fire cadets with the city of Gilbert. On Saturdays/ Sundays I would devote my time to be part of this group. There were plenty of activities we would do to get a feel of a fireman’s life. From training in the morning, volunteering in parades and attending real life ride longs was great. I could feel the rush and also get a great sense of the career I was getting into. Being seen by the public eye and showing professionalism as a fireman really gives back to the community and that’s what I want to be part of. I felt like I was really going somewhere till I received a letter in the mail. Proposition 300 was something that haunts a lot of students like my self to be able to attend school. Basically, out of state students pay double the amount of tuition, which makes classes more expensive and harder to pay for. Family priorities and working lots of hours also put my school on hold. I believe the reason why I stop going to school was because of this proposition. I accumulated more than 20 credited hours and was near getting close to be accepted in the fire fighter academy at MCC. With this heartbreak happening I would go to marches with fellow students and activist to protest in the “Si Se Puede March” and “Dream Act March” in Phoenix. Words can’t be put on this paper what I felt but also the anger I felt at these historic marches.

I believe in my heart that if The Dream Act of 2009 passes I will be a fireman with the years to come. With the great support behind me and the will to succeed, I will get my degree in fire science, be a fireman, be a Captain, and someday be the chief of a fire station. I will do whatever it takes to have a successful career for myself but also for my beautiful baby girl and my wife.