These two photos represent the hard work my parents fought for to provide me and my brother. Both of my parents are from Mexico and came to the United States in the 90’s hoping to have a better life. My dad was born in Culiacan, Sinaloa and my mom was born in San Felipe Hijar, which is a village in Jalisco, Mexico. When they had my brother and I, it was very hard for them to take care of us because they had to work every day and had no one to take care of us. So the best option for my mom was to take my brother and I to work with her. My brother and I would usually help my mom serve food or we would be at the tables just talking and hanging out. She used to work at my uncle’s restaurant as a waitress. Recently, my mom passed away and it changed everything in my family.  

My dad On the other hand, works as a custodian at Loyola Marymount University which is a popular university that is hard to get in to. My dad works for 8 hours a day gets home late since he works the night shift. They worked so hard to get me and my brother what we wanted 
2 / 2like phones and all that. I want to succeed in life and making my parents proud is a goal that I'm going to achieve.  

These two photos are very important to me because it made my parents to earn money and have what they have right now like kids, a car, a house, etc. I am thankful for both my parents for their hard work to give me and my brother a better life and especially my dad who is a single dad now working hard for us and doing the best he can to put a roof over our heads. 

– Alan Rios

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