I was 8 years old when my whole family immigrated from Guanajuato, Mexico to California in 2002. My father was already a permanent resident and had submitted the paperwork for us, his family as well but was taking too long and decided it was best to come to the US sooner rather than later. Making this journey was my mother, two older brothers, two younger sisters, my mother's Godson and myself. I remember my mother and brothers packing three small backpacks the day before and telling us that we were going to go "al Norte" to meet my father. On this journey, I remember getting on several cars, trucks and even walking through the desert to get here. There were other people making the same journey with us, perhaps 10 of us..but we were the youngest traveling. For me, the journey seemed so fast even though it took about 4 days. One of the things I distinctively remember was when we had to cross the Rio Grande, my sisters and I were carried across it so that we wouldn't have to physically go through it and get wet. I remember telling one of the people that I wasn't crossing "de mojada" because I technically didn't even get wet. My sisters were 5 years old at the time and keep asking "ya mero llegamos?" and my mother just kept saying "no hablen mucho por que los policias nos van a eschuchar...ya mero llegamos..su papa nos va encontrar a ya delante" and this would calm them and further motivate them, including myself.

– Noemi Hernandez

Relationship:  Im/migrant who arrived as a child Im/migrant who arrived as a child