There are nearly 700,00 DACA recipients as of September 2017. Most of them are of Mexican decent like Gachuz and most were brought over by family and friends in hopes of a better life.  The beginning of DACA  started in 2012 with President Obama.  With this program Gachuz has been able to stay in the US and has been registering with the program for the past six years.

Mauricio Gachuz Govea. Mexican. American. Gay. Immigrant. College student.

President Trump has announced of end of DACA last year, which means no new applicants could be accepted. The individuals that are registered are left in a stage of limbo with the program still in affect, but on its way out, unsure of when or if it will be eliminated.

The Govea family was well off in Mexico. Gachuz’s father owned a grocery store and his mother didn’t have to work as a result.  Gachuz and his younger brother Daniel attended a private middle school,  Mau was 8 and Daniel was 7 when his parents began to entertain the idea of leaving Mexico.  With all of the luxuries they had in Mexico their parents still felt there was something better for them in America. Members of their extended families had already gone to America and shared with them how much better and safer their new homes were. This was enough for the Govea family to make the move.

“It was the last week of July 2004,” said Gachuz. “ We flew out to the border by San Diego for our vacation where we met up with our uncle.”

Their uncle promised to teach Daniel and Mau how to paddle surf on the Pacific Ocean. “We later found out he wasn’t our uncle, or of any relation to us.”

Their uncle drove Mau and his brother the two hour drive across the border with someone else’s legal documents. They stayed with their “uncle” and his family for over a week and finally were taught how to paddle surf. Only the boys made it across the border.

“I cried every day for my mom,” said Mau in a trembling voice. “We flew to Milwaukee to meet with my godmother, we didn’t know that our parents didn’t make it.”

The Govea family was eventually reunited in Milwaukee, which is now what they all refer to as home. Because of the limited resources at the time, Gachuz was bumped down to third grade with his brother for English Second Language resources. He described this as a soul-crushing experience, already feeling different and now feeling dumb.

“I loved school in Mexico. It took me a while before I learned to love it in America.”

After enrolling in Carmen High School, on the south side of Milwaukee, Gachuz had his sights on college. His teachers pushed him to apply, even though none of his relatives had ever gone. Though everything looked good on paper, getting into school would prove to be a challenge.

The prerequisites for DACA were applicants had to have been brought to the US under the age of 15. They also had to be between the ages of 16 to 31 and lived continuously in the United States since 2007. The recipients also had to be a high-school graduate or still attending school. Gachuz fit all the requirements needed to register. With DACA Gachuz was awarded the work benefits of a Social Security Number, but any Financial Aid, Loans or Grants were off limits unless through a private lender.

“I was focusing on out of state colleges because I thought private colleges would offer more scholarship money for me to go in,” said Gachuz. “UW-Milwaukee wasn’t my first choice, it wasn’t even on my radar.”

Thanks to a clerical error, Gachuz was accepted to UWM and also given in-state tuition. That tuition is something that Gachuz has to petition for every year.

With DACA, Gachuz also gets a permit to work, which is to be renewed every two years. As of now, Gachuz has received this renewal three times.

“Citizenship for me isn’t an option unless I happen to marry someone,” said Gachuz.

As a gay man he faces an equally bleak path to get citizenship through marriage.

“Coming out to my parents was tough,” said Gachuz. “At some point you learn that it’s not something to be scarred about, but something that you have to own. Something that you have to own, that makes you stronger because you’re different, but unique.”

Being gay has proven to be easier to share than being undocumented, according to Gachuz. Depending on someone’s political affiliations it could go badly.

“Telling boys that I was dating was also really weird, how and when I have to tell them is such a personal thing,” said Gachuz.

The political climate today is more threatening than it has been in the past. DACA may be coming to an end, and many recipients are unsure of their future.  

“With today’s political climate I’m afraid of being sent back “home””, Gachuz says. He puts home in quotations because Mexico now seems foreign to him.

“I’m from Milwaukee, I don’t know anything else outside of here, English is now my first language.  I have a Midwestern accent, I say bubbler, cheese is my religion and I can’t get enough custard. I wouldn’t know what things are back ‘home’.”

Though Gachuz praises DACA, saying it is great for people like him, he does call it a “band-aid for citizenship,” and a “broken immigration reform”.  Without a real path to citizenship, Gachuz like thousands of others are stuck in the middle, in this no-man’s land of conflicting identities.

“To me, being Mexican isn’t about wearing sombreros or the mariachi outfits, or the folklore dancing, it’s about being able to care for people and to love them unconditionally. My parents brought us here to live a better life, they brought us here so we could have better things than they could have offered us in Mexico. So being American to me, means that I am working hard to ensure that I live up to what my parents wanted for me.”

“That’s what America was founded upon, people who wanted something better, something new, somewhere they could start fresh.”

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“When my wife and I travel I have to tell her to act cool, not to draw attention to us,” said the Monterrey native.

They try to stay off the radar, so far they’ve been successful and would like to keep it that way. Though they miss their families in Mexico, they now consider Milwaukee to be home. Both men also feel the same obligation to stay. Not just because of their bonds they’ve formed here, but also because their families back in Mexico are dependent on the money the two send back.

“I just want to support my son, he was born here and this is all he knows,” said the Guadalajara native.  

A Day Without Latinos.

Hearing those four words sent many a restaurant worker in a state of worry. According to a 2008 Pew Report unauthorized workers make up at least 10 percent of the hospitality industry, though sources like Eater reported in 2017 that the number was over 20 percent.  Restaurants would have to close, or try to limp along for what was sure to be a long and disastrous shift. The Farm Bureau’s 2014 report even estimated that with no unauthorized workers in the American workforce would lead to  a 5-6% rise in food costs. But now people are scared. Talks of ICE, deportation and a laundry list of mandatory court dates for immigration purposes are heard more often.

“I first came over here on a student visa,” said the Monterrey native.

He is now 41 and said he came over in his teens for school, but his visa is now long expired.

“It was so easy before to go to the border, I could just say I was going shopping and no one would say anything,” he said. “They would just wave me over and let me go to Mexico and then come back to the US.”

Now he says it’s an entirely different story. With talks of the wall and tightening border security, crossing the border without repercussions is near impossible. Not being able to cross the border meant Pedro not being able to see his mother or any of his family back in Mexico.

Last spring, he heard whispers about a possibility, south of San Diego some people were able to make it across the border undetected. Soon after hearing that he called his mom, arranged a meeting date and booked flights for both parties.

“She always ends her calls by saying ‘don’t forget about me’”, said the Monterrey native. “How could I ever do that? She’s my mom.”

The day before they were supposed to meet, he went to the site of the border crossing. His hopes of finally seeing his mom again were dashed when he saw border control there. An emotional phone call followed his discovery.

“She still wanted to try to meet me,” said the Monterrey native. “I knew it wouldn’t be a good idea. Even if we just went up to the fence and talked through it. It would look like I was in jail with the bars across my face.”

His mom has since been trying to obtain a visa to visit her son in his new home country, but it has proven to be a fruitless effort. He said that for a Mexican citizen to get a visitors’ visa to the US is virtually impossible unless you are wealthy.

“The US wants to make sure you have money to spend if you come visit, “ said the Monterrey native. “My mom has tried three different times. She gets to the interview step, has to pay money to go, gets her hopes up and always gets denied.”

Though it’s been a continual let down, he said his mom won’t stop trying to see her son.

“My sisters call all the time and tell me about my mom,” said the Guadalajara native.

He is lucky enough that his family is relatively well off in Mexico and are able to afford to come and visit. Every spring they plan a visit which turns into a road trip somewhere around the US. Last year was Florida and Graceland.

“When she’s here we try to do as much as we can,” said the Guadalajara. “I want to do as much with her as possible while I still can.”

Besides having a family here to support, he also helps support his mother in Mexico.

“One day my sisters called me crying, they said ‘mom is going blind and doesn’t want to tell you,’” said the Guadalajara native.

He expressed how hard it is to hear those things and not be there physically for support. But he never entertains the thought of going back. With an American born son and family here it just doesn’t make much sense. He feels that if he stays put it will be better for his family in both locations; he feels he give his son the most opportunities.

“I just want him to be a good man,” said the Guadalajara native.

Though not born here, most are chasing after the American Dream. If one works hard enough, they can pull themselves up by their bootstraps and achieve great things. The current political climate is making these people feel restricted to living in the shadows, but these are the people who nourish and take care of you when you dine out.  Latino line cooks, prep cooks, dishwashers, bussers, food runners, servers, they make up most restaurants.  They are the backbone of the restaurant industry. 

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