Angie Monterroso, a Spanish professor at the University of Nebraska Kearney, shares her passion for teaching as well as her experience navigating the immigration system to make her family whole again.
We’re bringing you this Podcast series from Urban Plains, where we’ll be highlighting the experiences of the Latinx community, who’s been here in the Midwest since the early 20th century. From artists to educators, our guests will talk about the struggles and successes of laying down the foundations for the next Latinx generations to continue to dream and to prosper.
REYNA AUYON-ESCOBAR, HOST:
Hello, everyone, and thank you again for tuning into the LatinXperience with Reyna…
KAILI JIMEI, HOST: Kaili
MAGGIE LITTEL, HOST: Maggie
HARRISON FUTRELL, HOST: And Harrison.
REYNA: We are bringing you this podcast series from Urban Plains where we will be highlighting the experience of the LatinX community who’s been here in the midwest since the early 20th century. From artists to educators, our guests will talk about the struggles and successes of laying down the foundation for the next LatinX generations to continue to dream and to prosper.
Introduction Music
REYNA:
Today as our guests, we have a linguistic professor who guides heritage speakers in fortifying their Spanish linguistic abilities. When she isn’t teaching Spanish at the University of Nebraska, Kearney, she’s spending time with her husband and three kids. Angie Monterroso is here to talk to us about her passion for teaching, as well as her experience navigating the immigration system to make her family whole again.
REYNA:
Hello, Professor. Thank you for joining us. I’m so sorry about all.
ANGIE MONTERROSO, GUEST:
Thanks for having me.
REYNA:
It’s been so long since I last saw you. Let me and I know to my team. This is Harrison. You met him? Oh, this is Maggie. Mm hmm. And this is Kaili.
KAILI:
Hi,You can’t see me. I’m here. Hello. I want to switch gears a little bit, because you dedicate all of your life, a lot of your life to the classroom, but you also dedicate your life to your family and your kids.But that, from our understanding, hasn’t been a linear path for you. So can you kind of take us through the storyline of your family and I believe your husband. He is Guatemalan. Yes. Yes. So kind of tell us about that.
ANGIE:
You know, before I married Zoe. She’s 16 now. She’s my daughter. So I had her. But then I married Cesar.He’s from Guatemala. I think it was 2014. Well, he was here. He’s an he was an undocumented immigrant. So he didn’t have you know, he wasn’t here legally or what we know people love to say they’re illegal immigrants. Right. So we got married and started the process for him to become a resident. And oh, my goodness, it is an eye opening experience. We had Zeo was born right away. He was born nine months after we were married. Right. And we started working on the process. And of course, I don’t know how people do it without getting a lawyer. But then he had to go back to Guatemala in 2017, I believe. And he didn’t he had to be there a year and nine months before his residency was complete and he was able to come back.So, I mean, that was I mean, that was a long time By that time I was pregnant with our second son Nobel and so he was born while Cesar was in Guatemala. So I was looking at giving birth alone. And of course supporting the family on my own because his income was gone. And then also just trying to keep our family together.
Like I would fly over there with Zeo, you know, when I had a chance like he went, he left October of 2017. So I think we visit him at Christmas, spring break and then that summer. But Nobel was born in April of this year. So then we took Nobel in the summer and oh my goodness, traveling to Guatemala with a six month old, a six week, six week old.It was, I don’t know, sometimes I question my sanity, but it was just and then after that, I think maybe we went one more time on Christmas, but it was just really hard with the baby. And he didn’t get back to like July I think was 2019. Would that be a year in nine months? 18 or maybe 18.
ANGIE:
Anyway, it was a year, nine months he was gone. So it was, it was tough and it gave me a whole new perspective on what and when you come at it from the fact that I was privileged in a sense, like we could afford the lawyers, I could fight and in fact we had one lawyer and I was like, no, I don’t feel comfortable.I dropped him like a hot potato, ask around and got a better lawyer. Like I was never able to navigate the system and advocate for our family. And other people doesn’t have that privilege. And it gave me a whole new, I don’t know, respect for what other people go through just to, you know, it’s become documented in this country. It’s very difficult.
MAGGIE:
What advice would you give to someone who is in a similar situation to your past self, like in that situation?
ANGIE:
It’s hard because it depends on your your position in life. Are you upper middle class? Are you lower middle class? Can you afford a lawyer do you have to try to fill out the paperwork yourself? I mean, the advice is so wide ranging.Like if you can’t afford a lawyer, it is so scary because if somebody gets a bad lawyer or a lawyer, that’s unprofessional. You can completely as seals their fates and their. You mean it can permanently remove the option of citizenship or residency? And so my best advice is what I did. I, I asked around people I trusted to find a lawyer I could trust.But again, I was able to afford a hardship for a family, but I was able to do it. If somebody can’t afford a lawyer, oh my goodness. I wouldn’t even know what advice to give them except let’s try to find somebody to help pay for the lawyer. But I asked around and found a lawyer, and I actually asked the court interpreters because they work with the immigration lawyers day in and day out.And I’m like, you know, these people see who has integrity, who wins the cases. And that’s the advice I took was what the court interpreter advised to to take for a lawyer and it really worked out well for us, thank goodness, because some people aren’t as lucky. So the best advice I have is get help, ask advice if something feels wrong.Definitely see it through. Don’t just think, oh, the lawyer knows everything or this person knows everything. Like follow your gut and never leave anything to chance. Because I remember a couple of steps. I got a letter saying, we need this, this, and this. It was from the lawyer. Well, one of the things I didn’t understand and so I didn’t follow through with it and I didn’t understand the urgency.So when the time came, we didn’t have the documentation needed, which put the case back even further. But here I am, a working mom, busy with the kids. I thought, Oh, the lawyer will follow up and then let me know. But they never did. And so it’s just really being very cautious every step of the way to stay on top of things.And even then, it just feels so much out of your control. And I remember when Cesar was in the embassy and things, the way we deal with things in this country are not the way it’s dealt with in the other countries. They were very rude, they were very short, and they were very unhelpful with, you know, to him.And it was just a very scary process that can honestly go either way. And that’s what makes it so scary. So advice. Wow. Pray a lot. Pay a lot and ask around for help. Does it just touch and go.
KAILI:
After your husband finally got his documentation. What was that feeling like for you and your family?
ANGIE:
Gosh, when you think about it, if we started right after we were married to 2017, I’m trying to remember who is back by 2000.No. Married in 2014 and he was finally back in 2019. So you’re looking at a five year process and we’re talking paying a lawyer a payment every single month coming up and then the waiting and then going to court and then worrying. Some of the details are fuzzy because I think I just blocked it all out. But I think there was even times we would go to the Immigration Court and hope he wouldn’t be picked up at the court and deported because the minute they know that you’re here undocumented, even though you start the process and you’re married, there’s always a risk.Angie
And if it was a constant stress and strain and then the financial strain and then the sadness of knowing he had to leave and not knowing how long, we would have never guessed he would be gone a year and nine months, I mean, almost two years. So when he finally and the stress it was so stressful for him because he had to travel to the city, Guatemala City, every time.And of course, I had to find all this like I had to pay for all of this on my own, like the lawyer because he’s there for a year and nine months. And then even, like funding his trips to the city, which is like a 12 hour bus ride on top of another five hour bus ride to go from his city and then to go to the embassy and then maybe not get seen and then maybe get seen.It was just it’s just a constant stress and strain. So when he finally finally. Because even though you go to the embassy and you hand them everything, you don’t always say, oh, it’s all good, you’re fine. No, I mean, like, wait, I remember this I sent him the original marriage certificate and they said it was a copy. And I’m like, No, honey, that is the original.And of course he’s fighting with me because he’s so strict and like, no, no, this looks he looks great. It looks like a copy. And I’m like, No, that’s the original. And they wouldn’t accept it. And I’m like, What am I supposed. The Guatemalan embassy won’t accept our original marriage certificate at that point. You’re just like, What can you do?Because there’s no negotiating with them. I can’t remember. It resolved itself I think the lawyer had to send them another FedEx it overnight, another original copy of our marriage certificate for them to. It was just things like that. So when they finally stamped approval, I remember when he walked off the plane, I could tell he was just he couldn’t believe he was in the United States.He was so nervous. Like they let me through the airport. I got into this country and I’m actually here. And I think we all felt that way. Like it’s a miracle that he’s back on the United States soil. And it was such a relief, such a journey and so stressful. And it’s just terrible that families have to go through this amount of strain.I mean, they were going to let him come back anyway. But the expense, the time was with his children. The time lost as a family, you those are things you cannot replace. You can never get that back. And it’s a tragedy that people have to go through when they’re going to be given permission. You know, this punishment, the castigo that they have to face is just that it just seems unfair and and foolish because he was a law abiding citizen that paid taxes, worked hard.So you’re like, okay, so then the US gave up that amount of taxes. What was the benefit of that? You know, he was working and paying into the tax system, which it seems illogical and I think we can use some work for sure. So yeah, that was it was the relief. We’re super grateful, super thankful. And I think most immigrants, even though we make them suffer, they’re still so grateful to be here and to have the opportunity that they have in this country.
REYNA:
Thank you so much. Yeah, Professor, we really enjoyed it. Well, we won’t take up any more of your time. I know you’re a busy person. You got kids, you got school.
ANGIE:
So yeah, yeah, it was fun. You’re so welcome. It was so nice seeing your face again, It’s fun. I miss you, I miss you so much. So good to hear your voice. I always recognize and I’m like, that’s Reyna’s voice.
REYNA:
I know you got school pick up now. And thank you for all that you do and for encouraging heritage lessons. I know you encouraged me, and you’re someone that will always be close to my heart. So thank you so much for coming and you have a good rest of your day.
ANGIE:
Yeah, sorry. Thank you.
REYNA:
And that’s all we got for this episode of LatinXperience. Thanks for listening and tune into our next episode with Maclovio Cantú the fourth, a printmaker who uses visual language to express issues in contemporary society.
