A little more than a decade ago, Dominican Carlos Méndez arrived in New York with his wife and two children.
He left his job as a winemaker in Constanza, Dominican Republic to try his luck in the United States.
He had no papers or a secure job, but he did have the goal of achieving the American dream. And she achieved it.
Now, this immigrant owns four restaurants in New York where he employs about 80 people.
Carlos tells us his story of struggle to obtain his assets and make his way in the Big Apple.
“Being undocumented is not an obstacle”
When he arrived in New York, Méndez started as a dishwasher in a restaurant and together with his family had to live in a small room.
“I never gave up hope of having my own business,” he remembers.
“I worked in what they call the fryer, I worked washing dishes.”
Although the doors were closed to him more than once, the Dominican did not give up and pointed out that although he was undocumented that “was not an obstacle,” because he knew that to fulfill his dreams he had to continue working.
“Coming to this country without knowing anything about the culture was a little difficult but not impossible,” he explained.
“There are opportunities here, what we have is to do things well and be responsible for what we do. If they make us scrub, scrub well, if they make us sweep, sweep well, we will climb from there, come with goals,” he added.
After several years of work, he managed to operate his first restaurant with $5,000 and the help of other people.
“I was able to get a person to believe in me and he provided me with a restaurant, from there the story is different, we already have 4 restaurants. Being without papers was not an obstacle for me,” she points out.
Carlos is now a resident of the United States and hopes his story inspires others to achieve their goals.
“I feel very grateful to the city because it has given me the opportunity. (Let them know that) yes it is possible.”
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Crédito: Central Press/Getty Images
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Crédito: Ray Stubblebine/Associated Press
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2024-02-27 15:41:00
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