Fernando: Interview with a dreamer
by Azra Isakovic
There are 800,000 DACA recipients in the US with 28% residing in California. Trump’s decision to rescind DACA not only means it could potentially erase $433 billion from the US GDP, but more importantly it puts so many people at risk of being displaced from the country they know as their only home.
One of the DACA recipients is Fernando Navarrete, a 29 year old Los Angeles resident and college graduate. Fernando’s father, an entrepreneur whose venture is street vending, engrained in Fernando to do better than him and pushed him to have better means through a college education. Fernando is currently a field deputy in Wilmington for council member Joe Buscaino (15th District) who once worked as a police officer and as a result had to cite street vendors. Council member Buscaino is now at the forefront working hard to legalize street vending which would allow people like Fernando’s father to provide securely for their kids.
For Fernando, a lot of political decisions made in City Hall are personal to him. After moving to LA at the age of six, he assimilated easily into the American life. Whilst being aware of his family’s undocumented status, it never really dawned upon him what that truly meant until he applied for college. He was unable to apply for loans or grants and had to work numerous jobs in order to afford tuition.
At an age when most kids ask themselves what they want to do with their lives, Fernando also had to ask himself if this country, the one he grew up in for most of his life, will allow him to realize his ambitions even after he figures himself out.
His first year of college in 2009, Fernando had to endure some trying times. His father was deported for months after being in the country for 15 years and while he was gone, Fernando’s mother died of ovarian cancer, a condition she kept secret from everyone in the family. His father was able to return in June 2010.
Despite the hardships he endured, Fernando always kept a positive outlook, fighting for a better life, for his family and himself.
One of the things I explored with Fernando is the state of immigrant identity, one I am familiar with as well. You leave one identity behind at the border to presume another and for the remainder of your life you become borderline both and yet neither at the same time. At times it feels like a purgatory. Fernando was accustomed to hearing the saying “ni aqui ni alla” (neither here nor there). This feeling of belonging and wanting to be accepted crosses all cultural bounds and unites us in our immigrant experience.
In this interview, Fernando also talks in depth about growing up undocumented, what DACA means to him and what his hopes are for immigration reform.
Where are you from?
I was born in Acapulco, a coastal town in the State of Guerrero.
How did you end up coming to the US?
In the early 80’s, there was a lot of corruption [in Mexico]. I love my country, but there is a lot to work with. My aunt, my father's older sister, came over here. She's the first one to take the leap to come to the US. She made it work for a couple of years. My father was in the military over there and once he got out, he didn't really find any work. Similar to our veterans here. Fortunately, my dad made the decision at 19 or 20 to come over here with my mom. They actually left me over there at two years old. They didn’t feel it was safe for me to take that trip, so they left me with my my grandma which was my mom’s mother. They left me there until I was 6, and then they came back to get me. I was a little older and able to make the trip. They had established relationships in the States and borrowed somebody's documents which was much easier back then. So I never had to cross the desert, as you hear in some of these stories, which I am very fortunate for. I was able to make it here on time to go to Kindergarten. I can still remember these images vividly. It's a life-changing experience. Coming from your hometown, I was so used to my Puebla, my little town and then coming to the monster of a city which is LA. It was definitely a culture shock for me and then you just don’t know the language, but I'm also very fortunate that I was very young. At six years old I could still learn the language easily. I was fortunate to get the quality public education that the US has to offer.
Do you have siblings?
Yes, a younger sister. She’s 26. And a younger brother who is 15. Both of them were born here.
What was your parents’ first job?
My mother worked in the canaries. Just by nature San Pedro was a huge fishing industry. She worked her way up starting at a canary in Wilmington and went to San Pedro. My father went more the entrepreneur route, he was a street vendor. He started out selling corn on the cob. He did this during the day and on the weekends he sold tamales. To this day, he sells tamales. He got out of the corn business. He didn’t see it as lucrative as tamales. Now he goes mainly by orders. The beautiful thing is that now I am able to help him out but he does quality work and people recognize his work here. His work speaks for itself. Still to this day he’s a street vendor. Hopefully with this initiative going through the council, he can do it legally. The city council vote to legalize street vending is personal to me.
Did your father ever have to face law enforcement as a street vendor?
My uncle who lived with us for some time, his brother, he also was partner with him too. So there were a couple of times, when I was a little kid, where the law enforcement stopped them and threw all of their products out. So, I've been able to witness it first-hand and there were times when I stood on the street looking out for patrols to make sure nobody was coming because they would just throw everything out. There were many times. Now we live in the world of social media so it’s out there but this has always happened. Now we are actually able to document all the unfair treatment happening in our communities.
How did the threat of law enforcement make you feel?
Being in this position right now, the beautiful thing is that you're able to understand both sides of it, the street vendor and the law enforcement side of it. I very much believe that we definitely should have a strong relationship with LAPD. The community just works better that way. We have that in Wilmington. Our residents have a good relationship. But me, as a young kid, I couldn’t comprehend how you can just do that to a person who was just trying to make a living. Especially when that video went viral in LA, I couldn’t understand how one of our own, a fellow Latino, could do that to someone else. It’s heartbreaking, because I have seen my dad for many years, the sweat, that it takes, the long hours and for someone to just throw away your products that you have literally worked hard for, if it's very heartbreaking for sure.
Were you aware of your parents’ legal status?
You never fully realize what your status is until you start thinking about what to do after high school. You are somewhat aware. I think it's different when most of your family is undocumented and it's something that's talked about. It's just very casual conversations as simple as, you're driving to a mall and you have to constantly be looking out for law enforcement. And it's not because you are doing something bad, but any time they can stop you. We had insurance but not a license. So that's always a conversation which sparks the fact that you are undocumented. In our own community, being undocumented was just a way of life, it wasn’t a big deal, not until it was time to apply for colleges. I didn’t qualify for financial aid or scholarships because I didn’t have a set of certain [social security] numbers. Then you start seeing restrictions that you don’t put on yourself, but the government puts them on you. So then, that's when it becomes more difficult to do things, it's a constant cycle, having a fear of what am I going to do with my life? Especially if I am not wanted here. How do I achieve what I want to achieve, go to college, and when I graduate, then what? What if I don’t have a social security. And then on top of that being 22 and trying to figure myself out, just what do I want to do with my life. That was difficult.
What was your college experience like?
I always wanted to go to a four year college. I had the grades and the dreams of a campus life like you see in movies. I obviously couldn't afford it, so I did the two-year college route. I went to Harbor Community College. I played soccer but because I had to work to pay tuition I couldn't play soccer anymore. After that I transferred out to Cal State Dominguez. But it was tough, constantly having to look for private scholarships. I couldn’t qualify for student loans. I was working jobs under the table just to pay for tuition. It was tough and my first year of community college my mother got cancer and she actually ended up passing away a few months later, so that whole thing was hard and at the same time, add insult to injury, my father got deported for three months after being in the country for fifteen years.
What led to your father being deported?
My uncle who worked with my dad, every time he was pulled over he would always use my dad's name. You know it was just easier for him. It was two weeks before I started the actual college and we went out to find a desk for school. We were right up in Palos Verdes and for that community the car that my dad was driving was unusual to be there. The police stopped him, the plates were fine but then when he gave his license, they ran it and saw that he had a warrant out. That’s when they arrested my dad and he had never been arrested before. They took him in, and we thought we would get him out, but he was already on his way to Tijuana. He tried to cross back but it was very difficult so he went back to Acapulco for a few months. But within those three months, my mother was already sick. She had ovarian cancer. My father had no clue. None of us knew. She took it to the grave for whatever reason.
While your father was deported, where did he live?
My grandma and my mom's mother was still alive. His mother had passed away a few years back. Both of my grandmothers have a home there. He had a place to stay. My dad owned a piece of property at the time. He stayed there until he decided to cross again. This time it was much harder and more expensive. Where it used to be $2000, now it was $7000. It was much more dangerous, too. My father was arrested numerous times and beaten badly. He went through a lot, and I feel for him, in addition to his wife passing away months before.
Growing up in the US, did you grow up with a lot of Mexican culture?
As Mexican as I am obviously, I think the culture side is something I am still learning. Because there is such a disconnect between all the family and history left behind and what we have here.
My family here was much smaller than the families of my friends. Unlike many immigrants who pull family into the country through generations, my family mostly remained in Mexico. Here I only had my immediate family, my uncle and my aunt.
And either you learn the culture from the traditions that you keep or read about, or from other people you meet. Although even in Mexico, there are so many different cultures and civilizations that existed. So I'm still learning about it. We are somewhat traditional. My best friends grew up Catholic, and my parents went the Christian route. We never celebrated Dia de los Muertos because Christians don’t believe in that. This year is the first year I tried it. I presented the offering to my mother and it was beautiful. Traditions are passed on and if you don't pass them on they slowly die. If I am lucky to have my own family, I want to pass these traditions on.
How did being undocumented shape your identity?
There is a very popular saying for anyone who migrated here, it’s in Spanish, meaning neither from here nor there. You are not Mexican enough to be back in Mexico, but you are also undocumented and not American, so where do you stand? As far as for me identifying myself, it was hard because I am Mexican by default because I was born there but I have always made my life in the US, and I was also undocumented, so that was confusing and caused an identity issue. But as you get older, you realize you have the power to make your own identity. I’m very proud to be Mexican, and I am also very proud to be American, whether this country has accepted me or not. To me, I am both, and nobody else can tell me otherwise. I love this country for one reason or another and I fight to be here.
Tell me about the day you found out DACA passed.
I still remember the day vividly. I was dating this girl at the time and we were in Santa Cruz because her sister was graduating from UC Santa Cruz. I remember it was 4:15 in the afternoon, and she was at the nail salon. I went around the corner to the store and stopped by my car. I looked at my phone and saw that President Obama had signed the DACA policy. Reading about what it meant, I realized that’s clearly me. So I ran to the nail salon and told my girlfriend, this is what happened. I get goosebumps thinking about that moment. To think after all these years, after going to school and getting a degree, finally something comes. To this day, DACA meant everything. It meant hope. I can finally use my degree. After years of hard work, it finally pays off. Is it perfect? Absolutely not. But it was perfect for us. For people who graduated from colleges who just wanted to do better for their families and themselves. It was by far one of the happiest days. And then seeing your name on a work permit. I don’t have to hide, use a fake name to work. I just renewed my license and I thought, I have a license, I have a social. Nobody can take this away from me. Even if Trump decides to take away the program, he can never take away the fact that I have a social that stays with me forever. So that day was magical.
How did Trump's announcement to rescind DACA affect you?
It was very difficult because I just had started the job. We knew he was going to do it. My boss Councilman Joe Buscaino wanted to definitely make a statement. So we we gathered a few people from the community who got their masters, who went to prestigious schools, and who were DACA recipients. My boss interviewed us and we told a little bit about our stories and showed support. It’s much tougher now to see in the media that every day on average 120 people are losing their status. If you don’t care about the individual, think about it like this. Every single day, if 120 people are losing their status, that means the economy gets hit. That means 120 people are in jeopardy in the community. That’s also their families and employers who now have new people to hire. It backtracks everything. Especially in California where we have the largest number of DACA recipients. What does that mean for our economy. What made the first DREAM Act difficult to pass is that the people in Congress were largely listening to sob stories. Now you have raw data to show what the contributions are and the impact is. The numbers show that we are here to work, to be entrepreneurs and innovators. I am lucky because my boss (Joe Buscaino) is very supportive, and the City of LA is very supportive. I feel comfortable but nevertheless I’m aware that there’s a lot to fight for and there’s a lot to lose, so we just have to continue fighting.
How did you come to work for the city of LA?
I worked for a nonprofit in Wilmington. I was an organizer for a grassroots movement, a lot of community empowerment grassroots work, certain civil rights issues so that's where I met the councilmember. And when the job opened up, I mean what better community to work with. By nature I have always been interested in politics. Being undocumented. I think it's very important for folks, where we stand and our situation, especially in these times be very, very aware of what's going on politically. You just have to be “woke”.
What type of action do you encourage people to take?
Keep calling your Congress representatives and ask them to pass a Clean DREAM Act. It’s to the benefit of everyone. We don’t want to disrupt the communities or hit the economy.
What would you like to see in immigration reform?
We’re at a point where we are put against the wall. Do we take what we can or fight for everyone. I’d like for everyone to have a fair chance. I’m also aware just like there are people doing great things, going to colleges, that there are a good amount of people who are not. I’m a firm believer if you are here to just reap the benefits of the system and not contributing to society, then you shouldn’t be here. Trump definitely gives more attention to the bad apples. A step in the right direction would definitely be the Clean DREAM Act and using it as a pilot.
