Imagine owning a winning lottery ticket, and carrying it with you for decades, but not knowing you had it. Riches could lie ahead, opportunities might abound, but you don't know about the possibilities, until someone brings it to your attention. So it was for Wilfredo Garza, a man whose life is now changed forever.
Garza has lived for 35 years, much of the time wishing he could become an American citizen. He was born in Mexico to an American father and was raised in Mexico, always assuming he was Mexican. But at a chance meeting last year, Wilfredo learned from an immigration attorney that just like his dad, he was an American citizen.
Garza is a working man with almost no formal education and has long figured the best future for him was in the United States, not Mexico. For years, he and his brother crossed the Rio Grande almost daily, sneaking into the United States. Garza was deported on four separate occasions, but managed to swim back into the United States each time.
Eventually, Garza and his brother scraped together enough money to buy a small ramshackle home in downtown Brownsville, Texas. Wilfredo is proud to have worked hard for everything he owns. He says he didn't cross the river looking for handouts; he came to work and work hard. On a good day, he says, he'd make $25 to $30 a day.
Garza puts a unique face on our immigration crisis. He's an immigrant who really wasn't. But through his story, his struggle, we learn just how important it is to be "an American."
