Personal Immigration Stories

Gaspar Hernandez grew up in a small town in Mexico, where the only available work was field work. When he was a teenager, he crossed the border illegally to escape a life of hopelessness. For 15 years, he worked hard, paid taxes and lived according to our laws and regulations - without so much as a traffic ticket.  In 1999, he met Sheryl, a student at Bowling Green State University. They fell in love and were married in June of 2002. Shortly after, they started the paperwork to obtain his citizenship.

Click here to read more about Gaspar’s story... 

Tell us your story!

The lives of individuals and families who are affected by the brokenness of the current system is what makes our commitment to fight for immigration reform so important. We want to help bring these stories to light and share them with our support network, so they can continually remind us of what - and who - we are fighting for.

Telling your story is simple.  First, read and understand the following guidelines:

By emailing your story to us, you are giving us permission to publicize the story on our website, and/or to disseminate the story in any other campaign communication - such as orally at special events, in our regular e-blasts, in radio interviews, etc.

We will always change all of the names in the stories sent to us, to protect the privacy of individuals mentioned.  We will not keep names or other personally identifying information in our records.

We will retract any story from our website upon your written request. 

With these guidelines in mind, please share your stories with us by emailing them to immigrationstories@esperanza.us.  Include any text, photos, or links to other websites that you want to give us permission to publicize.  We will select which pieces of information to display or disseminate, and we may not publicize every photo, link, or narrative we receive.  If you'd like help expressing your story in the best possible way, or if you have any other questions, please feel free to email or call Esperanza's headquarters at any time.