I crossed the border from Mexico with my parents when I was 6 years old. I remember walking for a day and a half and wading through a river. I remember sitting on my dad’s shoulders, feeling his skin peeling and blistering.
— This text excerpt is from The Marshall Project’s website —

In Mexico, we had worked on a farm, growing and selling tomatoes and potatoes and carrots. My dad taught me to work hard. His motto was: Work to live another day. When we got to Houston, I enrolled in school while he worked in construction, and my mom stayed home with my younger siblings. Things were good for a while.

But less than a year after we arrived, my mom got a call, and I heard my dad had been arrested for driving under the influence. He was incarcerated for two years. Suddenly, it was like being on a tour without a guide. He could speak English, but none of us could, and my mom couldn’t drive.

We moved to Austin, where we had more family, and my mom got work with my aunt, cleaning houses. It was so hard without my dad, but I learned English and by third grade I’d become the man of the house, helping my mom get around and watching my younger siblings while she worked.

Read the full story here: https://www.themarshallproject.org/2018/05/10/when-your-dad-gets-locked-up-and-then-deported