An illegal immigrant’s story

Maria Piedad Hernandez is not your typical community volunteer.

This undocumented immigrant from Mexico has been volunteering for Mika Community Development Corporation for the past two years. She sells tamales for a living but volunteers much of her time at the Costa Mesa nonprofit, by sweeping streets in the neighborhood and serving food during Mika’s holiday charity drives.

The nonprofit’s mission is to build up leaders from low-income communities by organizing neighborhood action committees, and helping them set goals and working together to achieving them. Hernandez’s neighborhood goals focus on keeping it clean, respecting her neighbors and others, securing the place, sharing, and building good homes, both rationally and structurally, said Crissy Brooks, executive director of Mika, who has also been Hernandez’s neighbor for nine years.

Her neighborhood has a poor reputation in Costa Mesa. But Shalimar Drive is no longer an unsafe place to live in, thanks, in part, to the efforts of people like Hernandez.“She has this sense of purpose of serving her community,” Brooks said.

Hernandez volunteers for Mika because she believes in its cause and the difference it makes in the lives of many young people, the Spanish-speaking woman said through her daughter-in-law, Daisy Martinez, who translated for her.

Hernandez’s story as an illegal immigrant is a poignant one. As Brooks describes it, it encapsulates what’s broken in the immigration system in America.

“It’s a snapshot of what happens when we have invested in kids, but we can’t provide them with a future,” she said. “We have these American values that says if you work very hard, you can reach your dreams, but that’s not true for kids with no papers, who came here through no fault of their own and can’t reach their dreams as adults.”

Hernandez came to the United States 20 years ago with her husband and children. Among them was Roman Madrigal Hernandez, her only son who was a year old when the family crossed the U.S.-Mexican border.

Last summer, her grown up son died when he tried to re-enter the country after he was deported a few months earlier.

Roman had been arrested by the Costa Mesa Police Department for petty theft and brandishing a weapon. His mother said that a neighbor claimed that Hernandez stole their bike. According to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Roman waived his rights to a hearing and took up an offer to go back to Mexico.

Roman was deported to Tijuana, a place that was foreign to him. America was his home and English was his language. He knew no other country until he was sent to Tijuana. According to his mother, the 21-year-old starved to death while trying to cross the border back into the U.S. in July. She last talked to her son on July 17. She had sent him some money so he could feed himself. A few days later, she said, she was informed of his death.

Hernandez, who can never go a day without thinking about her son, continues to volunteer for Mika. She even volunteered there on Dec. 19, 2008, the day he was deported.

“I said ‘if you want to go home, no one will be upset, we know your heart is heavy’ and she said ‘no, my neighbors are depending on me,’” Brooks said. “I thought that was a beautiful picture of not only her desire to help her community, but also her understanding of her role in the community.”

Hernandez, who could not hide her tears when she spoke about her son, continues to volunteer.

When asked about what she would say if people told her that she had come here without proper papers and was still staying here illegally, Hernandez broke down. Weeping, she said she wanted a better place for her children, but that she knew that her son probably would still be alive today had he been a legal immigrant.