An Oxnard woman in the U.S. illegally and her youngest daughter were among 50 people who boarded a chartered bus in front of Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s office in Los Angeles on Monday as part of a national tour calling for an immigration overhaul.
Leticia Santibanez, 41, left her native country of El Salvador for the United States 20 years ago. After her political asylum application was denied, she was deported in 1998 and left behind her Oxnard home and husband, a U.S. citizen.
Santibanez took her only children at the time — then ages 4 and 1 — to El Salvador, but the baby’s poor health worsened after two months in the country, where medical standards are lower, she said.
She returned to the U.S. illegally and has been living in Oxnard since. Now, she is hoping for change.
The “Keeping Families Together” tour launched Feb. 25 and will travel through 19 states before reaching Washington, D.C., next week for a rally and meetings with congressional representatives. The Southern California leg of the tour continues through Wednesday, with the bus traveling through Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange and Kern counties.
Santibanez’s multiple entries into the U.S. disqualify her from seeking legal residency through her husband’s citizenship until she spends 10 years outside the country.
“I need to be heard,” she said. “I don’t want to be left out of the immigration reform.”
Immigration rights advocates hope to persuade lawmakers to adopt a broader path to citizenship as Congress focuses on adopting an immigration overhaul in coming months.
If Santibanez has four children and a husband who are U.S. citizens, “There must be something wrong with the system,” said Alicia Flores, executive director of Oxnard’s La Hermandad Mexicana, a California-based immigration rights nonprofit.
“She shouldn’t be living afraid or in the shadows,” said Flores, who blew kisses to Santibanez and her daughter before the bus drove away.
Chants of “Sí, se puede,” or “Yes, we can,” could be heard among beats from traditional Korean drums and instruments as protesters of all ages and ethnicities formed a picket line in front of the Los Angeles high-rise where Feinstein, D-Calif., has an office suite.
Feinstein was not in California, and her representatives did not meet with tour organizers, said Jorge-Mario Cabrera, spokesman for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.
Flanked by immigrants and their family members, SEIU Local 721 President Bob Schoonover said the bus will carry the voices of families torn apart by failed immigration policies.
“We’ve all been hearing a lot of debate about immigration,” he said. “Some people like to divide it between the left and the right. It’s not that kind of issue. This issue should be decided on what’s humane.”
While Santibanez has lived illegally in the United States for the past 15 years, she said her daughters, ages 8 to 21, constantly fear she will be deported.
“They don’t want to be alone,” she said. “They have only me.”
Santibanez’s husband moved to San Diego to work as a forklift driver after being transferred from his job in Port Hueneme. She said she couldn’t risk moving her family because there are too many immigration checkpoints near the U.S.-Mexico border.
Santibanez’s youngest daughter, Valentina, 8, got permission from her elementary school to travel on the bus tour.
“I wouldn’t see my mom anymore,” Valentina said, standing next to her mother and wearing a shirt with the phrase “Obama, don’t deport our parents,” in Spanish.
Facing a similar situation as Santibanez, Raquel Nolasco, 40, also traveled from Oxnard for the rally but did not join the bus tour.
Nolasco left her parents’ home in Mexico City when she was 16 and illegally crossed into the U.S. by herself to work in Santa Barbara, where she cleaned houses and met her husband.
After not seeing her family in more than a decade, the mother of five took her children to Mexico to meet their grandparents. But she was arrested at the border when she tried to return with her children. Three weeks later, Nolasco illegally crossed back into the U.S.
“It’s not fair that my children, my husband are citizens and I can’t get my papers,” Nolasco said in Spanish as she fought back tears.