Leticia ("Letty") Cano is one of our 2013 Confronteras leaders. For her college applications, she shares the story of her parents deportation nearly seven years ago. Letty and her brother, Fernando, will be attending Confronteras together this year and are currently applying to colleges.
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I will never forget waking
up to the sounds of loud and terrifying pounding on my front door on the night
of January 26, 2006. As I quickly jumped from my bed and ran out of my room, I
saw my greatest nightmare become a reality: my mom and dad being handcuffed and
pushed against the wall by ICE officers. As an adolescent, I could do nothing
but watch the officers search my home and abuse my parents. That was the last time
I saw them.
There were no kisses, no hugs, and no goodbyes.
Days, months, and years have passed since the event, but it is still vivid in
my head. My older sister, my older brother (now my guardian), my twin brother
and I have done our best to support each other over these past few years by
becoming independent and taking on more responsibilities.
In an effort to cope with the absence of my parents, my
sister became an alcoholic and as a result became very depressed. During my
junior year in high school, not only did I have to worry about my parents, but now
my sister’s addiction as well. To
this day, I take care of her and help her control her addiction. I have spent countless
nights with her, lying on her urine-soaked bed in order to comfort her and help
her sleep. Nights I could have dedicated to sleep were instead spent comforting
my drunken sister.
The experiences I have gone through with
my parents and sister have forced me to mature at an early age. Although I
could have easily become a rebellious teen, I chose not to because I want to
succeed in life in order to one day help my parents get their residency in the
United States. In order to achieve this, I have put all of my focus on school
so that I may one day become a psychologist. A psychologist that will help
people who have been traumatized by horrific events in their lives or are
battling through depression. I do not want others to go through what I have and
have no one to confide in or help them.
In spite of my parents’
absence in my life, I have learned to manage my time effectively so that I can
tackle the most rigorous courses available at my school and still take care of my
sister. When I graduate from college it is not just for me, but for all of the
people who have assisted me.