A wrench is a very significant item to my family’s story of coming to this country. I am a third-generation child so I’m not as familiar with this as my parents are. My family moving to this country really started with my grandparents. The wrench represents that they were both blue collar or labor workers. My paternal grandfather came to this country from El Salvador through the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (INA). Through that guest program he got a visa and eventually brought my grandma, my dad, and my uncles over to the US. For my maternal grandfather, he came to this country illegally in the trunk of a car with not a lot of or water for hours. He came to get a better job to provide for his mother and siblings. When he came here he worked in a industrial laundry company where he met my grandmother. They got together and he worked while she took care of my mom and her siblings. I didn’t directly see the hard work my family put in to ensure the rest of us had a good future, but I greatly appreciate it and it is an important part of my families history.

– Adryan Figueroa

Relationship:  Grandchild of im/migrant Grandchild of im/migrant