Why Do We Need To Be An Illegal Immigrant In El Salvador?

Every person has a story. Every family has a past, a place they come from, a place they call home. For my family, that place is now in the United States. However, this wasn’t always our home. My family comes from a small country in Central America called El Salvador. Both my grandmothers arrived in the U.S. sometime in the 1980’s. This is where our story here begins. My grandmothers both came to this country seeking the American Dream. A life away from poverty, a life that held hope for not only their futures, but also that of their children and grandchildren. Coming to the U.S. is by far not an easy decision. When one makes this choice, s/he also chooses to leave everything s/he has ever known behind. One’s family, home, culture, identity, everything. There is a song that speaks true to what it is like to be an illegal immigrant; “He is not from here because his …show more content…
While the question of why people are willing to sacrifice so much is well known, the answers are often ignored. In the case of my family, it was to search for a better life. At the time the civil war in El Salvador was just beginning. Although the wars damage did not reach the rural districts where my mother’s family lived, it directly touched my father, who was living in the heart of the war, San Salvador. My father tells me stories of his experience during the war. He tells of memories of how he, my aunt, and uncle would hide under beds as they heard the sounds of gunfire and bombs closeby. He had nightmares about the things he saw he still does. He tells me the most terrifying