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Hannah Aguilera
Artifact 2- Immigrant Interview
EDU 280

People from almost every part in the world has at one time or another
come to the United States to create a new life. The U.S.A has branded itself

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as the country where freedom reigns, and the citizens are the ones who help
make the country thrive. Different religions, races, nationalities, genders,
and a multitude of other characteristics of people have built this nation. The
process of moving to the U.S from another country has changed over time,
but the motives and desires of immigrants largely remain the same: to build
a new life and have more opportunities. I interviewed a friend of a friend
named L. Mauricio Contla, and this is his immigration story.
Since Mauricio speaks English, but not fluently, his wife Becke sat down
with us to help translate some more difficult phrases. Mauricio was born in
Mexico City, also know as Mexico D.F., which is the capital of Mexico.
Mauricio lived in Mexico State the majority of his life with his parents and 6
brothers. Mauricio said life was great in Mexico, and enjoyed living with his
family because family and friends were an important component of Mexican
culture. Mauricio said life was simple, and you didnt have to worry as long as
you followed the laws, but a main concern was being aware of others who
didnt follow the laws. Mauricio delved more into the culture of Mexico,
expanding on the principles of family, work, and respect, which all tie into
each other. Multicultural Education of Children and Adolescents states many
Hispanic American families are families with strong bonds and frequent
interaction among a wide range of kin, and from what Mauricio discussed,
his family life in Mexico mirrored this description (Manning, Baruth, pg. 170).
He said many older communities surrounded him which influenced his
familys views on respect and valor. The young, in particular him and his 6

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brothers, had to respect the elder ones in their family. Mauricio said both sets
of grandparents lived nearby, and they would always go visit them almost
everyday. As a family, Mauricio said his parents didnt celebrate major
holidays in Mexico such as Dia de los Muertos or Dia de los reyes magos (Day
of the Magic Kings), but the communities that surrounded them did. These
country wide celebrations also helped influence Mauricios sense of pride and
belonging of Mexico, even though his family didnt necessarily celebrate
them.
After learning about Mauricios life in Mexico, we came to the question
of leaving it. His answer was simple because I wanted to marry her, looking
at Becke. Becke was born and raised in the United States, and when she
went on a mission trip to Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, she met Mauricio.
This started the the twos relationship, and after her mission trip was over,
they started writing, emailing, and calling. After this long distance
relationship, the two decided to get married and he came to United States
when he was 29 in June, 2002. Becke played an integral role in Mauricios
immigration. The reasoning for immigrating was wanting to get married, so
Becke was the one, since she was a citizen of the U.S., to petition for
Mauricio to move to the U.S. under the fianc visa (K-1 visa) and get legally
married.
Mauricio immigrated to the U.S. alone; his parents, and his 6 brothers
and their families still live in Mexico, and dont have any plans to move to
the U.S. However, a few of them have tourist visas to come visit their brother

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on a few occasions. Before Mauricio could come to the U.S., Becke has to do
fill out a lot of paperwork to petition for him to come on the K-1 fianc visa.
She had to provide every detail she knew about him and his family onto
documents, such as their names, birthdates, addresses, and information on
his grandparents too. Before the K-1 fianc visa could be approved, such had
to prove Mauricio and her knew each other, such as providing their
communication (the emails, letters, phone messages, and pictures of the two
together). Another item that needed to be provided was proof of 3 years of
Beckes taxes, in order to prove she could support him coming here since he
would not have a work permit yet, and financial aid (welfare) would not be
requested. After all this information was provided and put onto documents,
both Becke and Mauricio had to sign the documents, and then submitted
them in January 2002 to the Immigration Office. Both were notified in early
May of 2002, while Mauricio was in Mexico and Becke in Las Vegas, that the
application had been approved and Mauricio would have to pick up his visa in
Ciudad de Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. This is the only place in all of Mexico
that one could obtain a fianc visa document. Mauricio was scheduled to
have his immigration appointment anywhere from the middle to end of May.
He had the appointment, which lasted for two days, and this is where he ad
to meet the doctor of the American Consulate and verify all his
immunizations/medical records. Officials took his fingerprints and
interrogated him about the reasons of coming to the U.S., his family, his
religion. Mauricio was confused about this interrogation part because he

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thought everything was already approved since the fianc visa application
was approved. After these 2 days the officials gave him a visa with a sticker
inside his passport stating the date he crossed into the U.S., which was June
3rd. Since this date stamped his arrival, he had 90 days to marry Becke or
else he would be deported. Once married, he would be able to adjust his
status, and so the two were married on July 12th, 2002. After getting married,
more immigration paperwork was filled out to adjust his status to show he
was legally married to a U.S. citizen, therefore making him a conditional
resident.
Although Mauricio was now living in the U.S, he was not a citizen and
so the immigration process only just begun. Mauricio had to petition to get a
work authorization, which was placed at the end of July. He had to take the
driving written test, and the driving test to get his license before getting his
work authorization. His work authorization was approved in September 2002,
and was able to get a Social Security card. It took 6 weeks for the SS card to
arrive, and then he was officially legal to work in the U.S. by the end of
October 2002. After 3 years as a conditional resident, Mauricio has to adjust
his status again to remove the conditions to which he was considered a
permanent resident (green card). The conditions were that Mauricio and
Becke remain married. After a year of the permanent resident status,
Mauricio applied for citizenship. Mauricio was able to take the citizenship test
in December of 2006, and sworn in as a U.S. Citizen on January 5th, 2007.

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The final interview before Mauricio was granted citizenship included
Becke. Both of them were to be separated into rooms and asked questions to
verify if both had the same answers and were actually married, and it wasnt
a fraud. However, Mauricio and Becke just had a baby a few months before
the interview, and so when the couple went to the interview with their child,
the interview wasnt conducted because they saw the child was theirs.
Mauricio said apparently we werent trying to fraud the system because our
baby looked just like me.
Overall, this challenging immigration process took 8 years and
hundreds of dollars. Every single time Mauricio had to request an adjustment
of his status, or change information on his immigration documents, there
were several papers to fill out just to prove everything he had already proved
before all over again. The papers ranged in costs, from $10 to over $100.
Each and every time they filed or altered paperwork, Mauricio needed to
provide at least 2 passport sized photographs and get fingerprinting done,
which cost $80 every time. Mauricio also stressed the frustration of actually
mailing in documents, because he nor Becke knew at first they needed to
send paperwork through certified mail-return receipt requested. When they
didnt do this at first they didnt get the cards back that officials sign saying
they received it. If the officials dont sign anything documenting they
received the paperwork, the paperwork easily can be lost or thrown away,
and the fault would be on Mauricio.

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For Mauricio, the expectations of the U.S. werent thought about much
before. Mauricio had never been the U.S. before immigrating here, so he said
he didnt know what to expect. Although the immigration process was longer
than he thought it would take, and intense at some parts, like the beginning
interrogation, he was excited to be living in the U.S. His main reason for
immigrating was to marry his wife, but he was also excited to try something
new. For Mauricio it was scary at first for him. He wasnt allowed to work
until he received permission by a work permit, and once he did he still was
unsure about how to work in a new country, with a new language he did not
know. His expectation of working hard in America was different than what he
was used to in Mexico. Mauricio said the socialism in Mexico has caused
many people to treat work dishonorably. He said his family, and many others
worked hard to get opportunities, but also many people expected hand-outs,
and didnt expect to work to earn anything. Manning and Baruth state it is a
serious mistake categorize all lower-socioeconomic Hispanics as
unmotivated or underachieving, and this is true in Mauricios case (pg. 170).
Mauricios family could be considered lower-socioeconomic, yet they still
worked their tails off, according to Mauricio. He said its nice to have that
same ethic and belief mirrored in the U.S. that there is honor in workingit
doesnt matter what your job is, but working and receiving money for it,
there is honor in doing your part.
The most difficult part of living in the U.S. was adapting to a new
language. Although Becke already spoke Spanish, she signed him up from a

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few English classes that were very helpful to get Mauricio started. After just a
few months, Mauricio could communicate in English quite well, but its still
an ongoing work in progress. He prides himself in learning English because
its helped him accept his life in the U.S.; at the beginning of moving to
America he realized he didnt want people constantly translating for him, or
feeling like hes living in a bubble, and to him he views learning English as
truly becoming an American and assimilating himself. Speaking about
language, I recalled a passage from Multicultural Education of Children and
Adolescents that stated many Hispanics stand close together while
communicating, touch to communicate, and often avoid eye contact (pg.
172). Sitting down with Mauricio, I noticed we sat very close to each other,
but when he spoke to me he tended to look at the ground, or out the window.
Mauricio has built a family and a life in the U.S. that he seems to
cherish. His talk of the importance of family is shown in him building a life
with his wife and children. Mauricio says his wife, although not Hispanic,
holds an equal role in the family, something mildly contrary to Mauricios life
in Mexico, where there was more rigid definitions of sex roles, but its
evident in this home the males authority appears to be relaxing as the
womans role is redefined (pg. 171). Along with his family, Mauricio says the
best thing about living in the U.S. is the safety aspect and the laws. Mauricio
claims there is corruptions everywhere in the world, but it is less here than
in Mexico. He enjoys that the U.S. police departments for work law and
order, and actually protects the people, where as its a different concept in

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Mexico. He also likes how people share in their own rights, like the right to
bear arms. Guns are illegal in Mexico, however all criminals in Mexico get
their hands on guns, so if you are a law abiding citizen of Mexico, you have
no way to protect yourself, and this was something Mauricio didnt like.
Speaking of life back in Mexico, Mauricio recalls another difficult aspect
of living in the U.S: being far away from his friends and family, and culture.
Baruth and Manning state the stereotype the Latino population is
overwhelming and immutably Catholic is inaccurate and misleading, applies
to Mauricios life now (pg. 171). He practices Mormonism now, but growing
up his family was Catholic, and so this helped shape his identity. Most
everyone on Mauricios block growing up in Mexico State practiced the same
religion, so they all went to the same church. This influenced and created a
community of friendliness; everyone in Mauricios neighborhood knew each
other and talked to each other, even those who werent Catholic or attended
church. Yet in American, people are more cold when in comes to neighbors,
he says. Everyone has their own personal space and no one seems to know
who their neighbors are, nor talk to each other. Another difficult thing
Mauricio has trouble grasping, is many families in America are not as close,
and dont get together often, even in they live in the same city.
There are many difficulties living in the U.S for an immigrant, and the
first of them is the actual process of moving and becoming a citizen, which
takes years (8 years in Mauricios case). For many immigrants, including
Mauricio, the challenges and wait is worth it. Mauricio will always encounter

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differences in American culture, but that doesnt mean theyre negative or
bad differences. Mauricio likes living his life in the U.S. with both Hispanic,
and now American, influences.

Works Cited
Manning, M. Lee., and Leroy G. Baruth. Multicultural Education of Children and
Adolescents. 5th ed. Boston: Pearson Education, 2009. Print.