After more than two years of being separated from her family, Esmirna Brito returned to her home in the city of Downey to reunite with her husband, children and grandchildren.
“Still I can not believe it! I’m where I should be… with my family! ”Says Smyrna.
Describes the years of separation as a nightmare.
“It changed our lives 180 degrees. My husband and I became very depressed. I collapsed while my husband’s health deteriorated to the point that he no longer cared about anything. Upon my return, I found him on dialysis. You have to take him for dialysis three times a week. ”
It was on 30 May 2019 when Izmir was denied a visa to enter the country at the United States Consulate in Ciudad Juárez, where he had come with a previously approved pardon. The visa would have allowed him to obtain permanent residence.
“I wore 35 years living in the United States when I tried adjust my immigration status. My husband was already a citizen. ”
Smyrna is the mother of three children and the grandmother of three grandchildren. He was born in Acapulco, Mexico. In 1987, she emigrated to the country to meet her husband Carlos Brito. Shortly after, he managed to get a relative to bring him Diana, the eldest daughter, who he had left in Mexico. Her two youngest children Charles and Stephanie were born here.
Does 30 years ago, Carlos opened a locksmith; and during Reagan’s Amnesty he was able to obtain his residency; and later he became a naturalized American. In 2014 he applied for residence for his wife Smyrna. But when she was called to an appointment at the United States Consulate in Ciudad Juárez, within the process to fix her immigration status, things got complicated.
“The officer argued to me that the income from my husband and my daughter’s for $ 60, 000, they were too little to be my sponsors. When I asked him how much they had to earn, he replied in a very bad way that I would have to investigate that. ”
Then the immigration officer asked her several times how much she had paid to bring her daughter to America as a child. “For the third time I tell her that I did not pay anything, that an uncle brought it to me,” she repeated.
Unfortunately they did not let her return to the United States, and they demanded a new pardon.
“It was something terrible, but the immigration officers do not touch their hearts at all. And it seems good to me when one has broken the law, but my husband and I always dedicate ourselves to work; and we have no record. ”
The immigration lawyer, Mercedes Castillo immediately processed a second immigration pardon and authorized it in March of 2020, but as the pandemic broke out, a process that could take a few months, lasted for another year, because everything was closed.
After the refusal to let her return to the country with her family, Esmirna had no choice but to go to her mother’s house in Acapulco.
“It was very hard because Acapulco was very dangerous, with a lot of violence, robberies, kidnappings, murders. I lived in terror that they would find out that I had my family in the United States and that they were going to kidnap me. He hardly ever left the house. ”
He acknowledges that Acapulco is a very beautiful place, but the uncertainty of not knowing what was going to happen to her life and the separation from her family, made her not appreciate the return to her roots and the land where she was born.
Being close to her mother was her only joy, but the anguish of being away from her family annihilated her.
“It was horrible. It is something that cannot be described. Sometimes when I was in Acapulco, I would imagine at times that I was at home in Downey with my husband and my children. ”
In April of 2020, traveled to Tijuana to request a humanitarian permit that would allow her to reunite with her husband who got very bad with diabetes and was hospitalized.
“They denied me because at that time my husband had already been discharged from the hospital ”.
So devastated she returned to Acapulco. “It was very sad, saying goodbye to my daughter who had traveled to Tijuana to accompany me to do the procedure. And when I boarded the plane back to Acapulco, I had a very difficult time seeing how I was getting away from my loved ones. ”
Finally the 28 August 6 weeks after going to the US consulate in Mexico to deliver a new medical and criminal record check, he received an envelope by parcel in Acapulco containing the approval of his visa to return to the country.
“I didn’t care about anything. Right there in the parcel offices, I screamed with delight. He had to thank God. The bitter streak was over. ”
Esmira crossed the border through Tijuana, accompanied by her daughter.
“It was something beautiful. My daughter and I have been singing all the way in the car. The Lord is great! I am where I should be, with my family. I found my grandchildren very old. They already have 14, 14 and 10 years”.
She says that there were days after her return, that she woke up and couldn’t believe she was at home with her husband and family. “I’ve already started my routine, and I’m catching up.”
A week after returning to Downey, she received her green card. “In 3 years I plan to apply for citizenship,” he says.