Ramon Gonzalez Aguilera is my dad and he was born on June 7, 1976. He grew up in Guanajuato, Irapuato, in Mexico, for sixteen years. In 1992, he decided to leave his home and family, to make a better life for himself, in California, at the age of sixteen. He traveled by crossing the border, to travel to Oxnard, California. He has some family in Oxnard, so he decided to live with them for a while. The reason he left his home was because his family was poor and his parents couldn’t care for eleven children. He struggled to survive in Mexico and he only had the chance to receive schooling, up to sixth grade. Upon his arrival to California, he worked as a farmer picking beans for two years. In 1994, he decided to work at a Campo de Golf. After that, he started to work in construction with Lorenzo. He would drive dumpster trucks, to take to people’s houses, and pick up any type of trash they had, from rooftops to old furniture. He worked for Lorenzo for five years, until in 1999, he worked for Smith and Son’s Company. He would drive a roll-off, carrying a box container, to leave at people’s houses, so they would place concrete and dirt. Throughout the years 1992 to the present, my dad accomplished to live a life on his own, gain residency in 1995, and became a U.S. citizen in 2009. He fulfilled his goal of making a life on his own, becoming a U.S. citizen, marrying my mom in December 1997, and doing his line of business in 2016. My dad worked for Smith and Son’s Company for seventeen years, so he decided to buy his own roll-off and box containers, to make his own business. 

– Stephany Aguilera

Relationship:  Child of im/migrant Child of im/migrant