A Latina-American Spotlight

The immigrant experience in California is incredibly diverse and complex. Through sharing portions of some immigrant stories, we hope to shine a light on a path toward increased empathy and social change. The names are fictional, but the stories are based on the real-life experiences of our friends and community members.

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Lucía is from Oaxaca, Mexico. She moved to the U.S. when she was in her mid-twenties, and she has lived here for more than 20 years. Having taken English classes for more than half of those years, she speaks English quite fluently.

She mostly uses her English when she is working as a house cleaner and engaging with her clientele. Outside of work, her social circles consist of her family and close friends of her family who are also Mexican and native Spanish speakers.

Despite living in the U.S. for more than 20 years, and speaking English fluently, Lucía struggles to find connections outside of her family circles. Lucía’s immigration papers have been in process for nearly a decade. She is an outgoing, social person, but when she leaves home, she is most comfortable going to church and family gatherings.

While we’re sure many of you would love to be Lucía’s friend, the reality is that there are many immigrants like her that live in isolation within their cultural communities because that’s where they feel most safe and welcome.

When we travel, we crave authentic and welcoming connections with the local people. It’s a similar experience for many immigrants in the U.S. They crave welcoming local connections, too, and it’s up to each of us to meet them here so they can make authentic connections outside of their cultures.

Lucía is an example of a connection that we’re missing by focusing on traveling to Spanish-speaking countries instead of looking for local opportunities to connect with Latino cultures. And this is what immigrants are missing because we, as a society, don’t typically do that.