As an immigrant and also as a writer,
it is such a privilege to be asked to share my story,
and to feel that my voice is being heard,
because immigrants struggle to have our voices heard.
My journey began in Mexico in a city called Iguala, Guerrero.
That's the first thing you see when you enter the city
is a lot of dirt roads and shacks.
And most people there are still living without running water.
And some people are still living there with no electricity.
I lived there with my family,
and it was me, and my brother, Carlos, and my sister, Mago.
And the three of us, we lived with our mother.
And one day, things changed for the family,
and that's where I start the book.
In 1980, when I was four years old,
I didn't know yet where the United States was
or why everyone in my hometown of Iguala, Guerrero,
referred to it as El Otro Lado, the Other Side.
What I knew back then was
that El Otro Lado had already taken my father away.
What I knew was that prayers didn't work
because if they did,
El Otro Lado wouldn't be taking my mother away, too.
So basically, by the time I was four-and-a-half,
I had no father and I had no mother
and there was a border that stood between me and my parents.
And, to me, you know, as a little girl,
that was really difficult to wrap my head around.
To have them so far away and to not understand, you know,
what had driven them away.
As a child, what I felt was that my parents had left
because they didn't love me enough to stay with me.
And it really affected me to be separated from them
and to not know if I would ever see them again.
So, when I was almost 10 years old,
my father finally came back to Iguala.
He decided to bring us to the US
since he wasn't going to come back anymore.
So, here's our first attempt at crossing the border.
We got out of the car and looked around.
The border turned out to be nothing but dirt and bushes,
rocks and weeds, under a light blue sky.
"This is where we start," the smuggler said.
He looked at me and said, "Try to keep up, okay?
"You don't want to be left behind, do you?"
Once in a while, the coyotaje
shouted orders to us and we obeyed.
"Walk!"
"Hide!"
"Run!"
"Crawl!"
I wasn't used to walking and running so much and so fast.
Mago put her arm around me
so that I could lean on her as we walked,
but soon we found ourselves lagging behind.
"Maybe we should turn around and go back,"
the coyotaje said to Papi.
He stopped and waited for us to catch up.
"It's hard making this journey with children."
"No," Papi said. "We keep going. She'll be okay."
Papi ended up carrying me on his back.
Suddenly, a cloud of dust rose in the distance,
and before we knew it, a white truck was heading our way.
"Run!" the coyotaje yelled.
We rushed into the bushes, and I clung to Papi
with all my might as he ran.
He dove behind a rock.
The truck pulled over and men dressed in green,
the men Papi had called La Migra, got out of the truck.
"Come out," they said.
"There's nowhere to hide."
They took us to the border patrol station.
Maybe they would understand that all we wanted was
to have a family, and they would soon let us go.
And they would let us keep our dream.
You know how the crossing turned out because I'm here now.
[laughter] So, we did make it.
It took us three times.
And my dream came true.
My dad, he brought us here so that we could succeed,
and he told us that he expected
nothing but 'A's from us from school.
And he threatened to deport us back to Mexico
if we didn't do well in school. [laughter]
So I wasn't afraid of border patrol.
I was afraid of my father
because I knew that he would deport us
if we didn't, you know, get straight 'A's.
So we were really good students, my siblings and I.
I dreamt of going to college,
and I ended up at the community college.
And then, from there, I transferred to a four-year university,
and I ended up at UC-Santa Cruz.
And there, I became the first in my family
to graduate from college.
I dreamed of being a US citizen,
and 10 years ago, I became a US citizen.
And then my dream of being a published author came true,
and not just being published in the US,
but also being published in other languages abroad.
You know, I really believe that there has to be a place
for immigrants in our hearts,
in our country, in our literature.
And it is dreamers, especially our young dreamers,
who will continue to make this country great.
So, let us dream together.
Thank you.
[applause]