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My name is Brandon Garcia.

I’ve been in the United States for four years. I come from Guatemala.

When I was 1 year old, my dad said I’m going to the United States. He needed to make money to make it easier to raise me. He was making his way to the US when halfway through his journey, he was killed in Mexico. So, when I was two and a half, my mom decided to come to the United States to replace my dad, make money so she could build a life. She had to leave me in Guatemala. I grew up without my dad and my mom. I were raised in between my aunts and grand-parents.  When I asked people “where is my mom?”, they would say, “she’s not here but it’s for your own good”.  I did not understand. I just wanted to be with my mom.

When I was 11, she told me that I could come to the USA to live with her.

I left Guatemala and made my way through Mexico. It took three months. Then , we made it to the border. It was the hardest thing that we had to go through. And it was the desert. We were a  dozen people and two kids: me and another younger kid. For three days, we walked, we only rested five times – At night, I remember there were shooting stars, a lot of stars. And every time they’ll pass by, I would start thinking about  my dad. And that’s when a plane came by. It was an an army plane. I thought: “ I hope nothing bad happens to me”. Our guide told us, we’ve got to keep going or else we’re going to get caught. I started walking again. We had to go down, up and down, up, and then we walked up on a hill. There was lights on the horizon. The leader said: “guess what, those are Christmas lights” It was Christmas. That’s the Christmas I will never forget. I got to spend Christmas in the desert. I got so emotional that I started crying. I mean, I had made it. I made it to the United States.

When I came to America, my first goal was to see my mother. But after 10 years being apart, it’s totally different. For 10 years, she did not know me. It was like putting two strangers in a room to get them to know each other. My mom explained to me that I had now a sister and a brother and a new dad. I only wanted to be me and my mom. It was so confusing. It took a really long time to feel connected. It is still going on. I don’t really know my mom.