On December 28, 2008 I married the man of my dreams, Jose Hernandez Flores. He proved to be one of the most loyal, hard-working, caring individual I had ever met. Jose was born in Mexico to a very poverty stricken area with a population of around 700 people. As the opportunities in re-locating to the United States far outnumbered those in his town, at age 18 he had made the dangerous walk across the dessert in order to enter the United States illegally. In February 2009, we decided to hire an immigration attorney and began our journey on a long hard road to him obtaining United States residency.
On September 2, 2011 my husband took a Greyhound to Mexico in order to attend a scheduled appointment at the United States Consulate in Ciudad Juarez. As Jose was in the United States illegal for over 365 days, he was up for a 10-year ban that would need to be appealed by the filing of an I-601 Hardship Waiver.
Throughout this whole process and the inevitable return of my husband to Mexico, we had a couple blessing that kept our minds positive as dreams for a more fulfilling and pleasing life seemed possible. In March 2009 we had our first child, Orlando, who definitely changed our lives for the better. In May 2010 we had our second child, a beautiful baby girl that we named Dyana Isabel. Our hopes for a bright future with great opportunity for our children have kept us pushing for Jose’s residency as we feel like these dreams can only be provided by our United States.
However, on November 10, we received a major disappointment as when we got word that his I-601 hardship waiver which we had worked so hard to compile was not immediately accepted. With this being said, rather than receiving a much longed-for Visa, we received a letter stating additional evidence should be submitted and his appeal would be reviewed in approximately 10 months.
My husband is currently staying with his parent’s and working on his dad’s Coffee farm as there is no availability for employment and minimum wage in the local area is five dollars a day. He is staying busy working but barely making enough money to even survive. In the meantime, I am attempting to stay strong and keep my sanity as I am giving full-time care to my Grandmother (who has Alzeheimer’s), give full-time care to my two young children, and remain a full-time student!
I fear for the future our children if we have to relocate our dreams. We are just barely beginning to build a family and as a new mother and father we are trying our hardest to build a strong foundation for our children. Jose is such a wonderful husband, provider and father. My husband and I would just like to have the chance to live the American dream of having children and owning a home of our own someday.
