My name is David. I am 20 years old and have lived in California for 19 years and eleven months. My mother brought me here from Tonga as an infant to join her husband, my father, who was a U.S. lawful permanent resident at the time. My father became ill shortly after my mother and I arrived in the United States. He died from asthma-related emphysema just before my second birthday without resolving my or my mother’s immigration status. If he had lived, my father certainly would have arranged to adjust my status before now.
My mother obtained lawful permanent resident status in 2005 based on a petition filed by my older brother on his 21st birthday. He was born in the United States. My mother’s other two children are also U.S. citizens living in California. I have two older siblings from my father’s first marriage who live in the United States, both of whom are U.S. citizens residing in California.
My mother filed an I-130 petition for immigrant visa on my behalf with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in September, 2005, when I was 17. Everything is still in process. My mother has worked extremely hard to support her children by caring for bedridden elderly people in their homes and in nursing homes. At one time having 3 separate jobs. From her example, I have learned the importance of making the most of one’s opportunities.
In June 2006, I graduated from High School and continued on to community college, where I played football and completed an Associate’s Degree in June 2008. The Athletics Department of a University offered me a full scholarship for the academic year starting this past fall ’08. I informed the University of my immigration status and sent them a copy of the Notice of Receipt of my I-130 petition before receiving the University’s go-ahead to come to campus this past summer for football training. My family paid for my ticket and i was on my way. Nevertheless, I encountered difficulty with formally enrolling at the University due to my immigration status, so I was forced to come back home.
My papers will be here soon, its just the amount of time I have before i can take the athletic scholarship. You see, you have four years to play college football, 6 years total. I played my first 2 years, then redshirted which is like an extra year of training. I’m hoping my papers will be here by the end of 2009, but by then, 1 whole football year would be left, and no school will only pay for one year of football. I’ll be out of luck. The school costs are too high and my grades are not 4.0′s like a lot of peoples GPA’s are on here, so getting into schools might be a problem, although i have never tried to apply anywhere. I have a solid 3.0, but I have always relied on my athletic ability to get me through life.
Giving up this dream beacuse of a stupid reason such as being undocumented would not only kill me but my family as well. I know other younger athletes who are like me, and it would be great that even if I could not go to college, that the opportunity would be given to them instead. Thanks for reading and listening to me.
