Celeste Ayala, a junior at OVS, is close to many of the workers who tend to her family’s orchards and sees their fear over the increased immigration crackdown.
“Lupe, he’s older, and he had his 60th birthday,” Celeste recalls. “He really wanted to go spend it with his family in Mexico, but he was too scared to visit them.”
Southern California has always been a melting pot of cultures, but Mexicans have made themselves at home in this beautiful state before it was a state. Some Mexicans have families that have inhabited California since it was Mexico. Bordering on Mexico at the southern border has made California a hot spot for Mexican immigrants looking for more opportunities.
The recent ICE raids and immigration crackdowns have taken a huge toll on our community; students and faculty know people who have been deported unjustly, and it is scary. Los Angeles seemed to be a hotspot for raids, and, being a big city, it got a lot of media attention.
OVS sophomore Evelyn Ponce Sanchez said the raids flipped her life upside down.
“I didn’t go out that often, mostly because of the raids, but it was scary whenever my parents or someone I knew had to go out,” she said. “I just had to hope and pray that they would be able to come back home.”
This has become an increasingly important factor to people — for some, it determines if they will continue their studies in the United States.
Ana Sofia Samano Suarez, a Mexican national, was considering going to college in Canada because of this political climate.
“I actually had to make a very hard mental process of whether I actually wanted to continue studying in the US for college,” Samano said. “In the end, I decided that yes, because I do want to do animation or sequence art […] but it does affect my personal decisions of whether I want to stay or not.”
Recent raids do not only affect people who have Latin roots. Students have very passionate opinions about this topic. It scares people with connections to any type of immigrant, regardless of race.
“I believe that the way ICE is doing it is very unprofessional, and that’s not something that should be okay,’ said OVS junior Laura Bell, who serves as the school’s Diversity and Inclusion representative. “It’s children and adults who want to start their life here.”
Our educators must teach students how to think critically about the world and question our leaders when they aren’t making the best decisions for everyone.
“What is our role in the world, what should we be doing?” World History and Humanities teacher Fred Alvarez said. “What happens when bad rulers make bad laws? These are very conversations we need to be having with students in our classrooms.”
But we don’t have to live in fear.
“Just because I don’t look or have the same culture as you doesn’t mean I can’t do as many inspirational things as you can do.” Evelyn said, “I want to be a leader to show people that even if we’re different, we’re still human, and we can still be empowered.”
People’s voices must be heard, whether that is out in the streets protesting, spreading awareness, or helping families in need.