The lone American

A large amount of stories about first generation students and their struggles have been written and posted, and there are plenty more to come. But my sister, 10, is a first generation student.

She still has a long way to go until she can truly understand what it means to be a contributing citizen of the United States. Even though that’s still a couple of years away there are still various possibilities that are available to her.

She will have far more opportunities handed to her than my older sister or me simply because she was born inside the borders of the U.S. Now, it goes without saying that citizenship is not negative, she has her whole life ahead of her and nothing to stop her.

Despite all her advantages in life or at least in this country, I still fear how the eradication of DACA will affect her. Not in the traditional, physical way but more emotionally. Indeed, she may be a citizen but sadly the rest of her family is not.

We, her family, are in danger of being deported  from this country and leaving  her alone. One can only imagine how life without a family for a child could be. The possibility of staying in this country keeps getting smaller as the six months Trump gave Congress to formulate new immigration policy comes to an end.

I don’t want her to go through the things I had to go through as a child. When I entered high school my older sister helped me with my homework assignments and my parents gave me advice on certain obstacles and dangers I had to either avoid and/or overcome. Without her family, my sister is in danger of making the same mistakes we made in our lives or even worse.

For most children, their family or loved ones become their moral compass, their voice of reason, and their role model. If my sister has none of her family to look up to then who will she look up to? The hardships our parents had to go through for her to be here, both emotionally and physically, will all be for naught. We want her to be a part of the percentage of immigrants that disproves Trumps’ ideals.

This is where family and or loved ones come into play, as a voice of reasoning and restraint. Yes, I am not a first generation immigrant student, but I do have some insight into the first generation experience.