Art: Daniel Robles.
In Román’s house there are many saints. In the living room hangs a painting of the Virgin of Guadalupe so large that it almost covers the entire wall facing the stairs; In the kitchen there is a carved wooden image of the Last Supper and in the patio there is a quarry altar dedicated to Saint Jude. The wall that leads to the second floor is full of crosses of all kinds, not all of them are religious, some are travel souvenirs, gifts from friends and curiosities that his mother found in some antique or second-hand store.
The most religious of the family is Doña Felipa; The title was earned by character and not by age. She gets up early religiously to pray the rosary before going to work; He goes to mass on Sundays and respects all the holy days of observance of the Catholic calendar. Their faith is a little bit of inheritance and a lot of conviction. He frequently scolds his children for not getting closer to God and says that the “most difficult one” is Roman because he is an unbeliever.
But how can I believe in a God who let my father die and does nothing to prevent my mother from being deported? Roman questions.
Román is the only one in the family who was born in the United States; One of his brothers is a DACA beneficiary and the other “arranged” papers when he got married. No one has been able to find a way to legalize the status of Doña Felipa, who in her youth crossed the border bravely three times, the last time already a widow and pregnant woman.
But Roman had not questioned God as much as he has since November 5. It is not only the nervousness that causes him that Trump returns to the White House, but the local scene in Arizona that makes him think that his mother has a target and that someone will stick the knife in his back.
He was very young when Joe Arpaio was sheriff or when SB1070 was enacted, but he grew up with the family trauma of raids and racial profiling; He grew up in a family of mixed immigration statuses. Two of his beloved uncles were deported to Mexico and his mother’s only sister decided to go to California to try her luck. He does not want Doña Felipa to leave, but with what is said about Proposition 314 he feels anxious and cornered by the threat of detention or deportation.
Much has been said about Proposition 314 and it could be harmful to families like Román’s, as is speculated; but the immigration clause has not yet come into effect and will not do so until Texas SB4 is declared constitutional, but if the Court decides that it does not proceed, this Arizona anti-immigrant law would remain half-done, on pause. But Felipa is calm that the “safe border law” will never be implemented. Her faith shelters her when everything feels uncertain.
“God has saved me from many in these more than 20 years and I know He has a much bigger plan for us,” she says. And he also repeats a litany that my mother uses when it is difficult to maintain hope: “For God there are no impossible things.”
And that impossible, the miracle of immigration reform that Doña Felipa longs for, will come, she says – ironically – from the hand of Trump. “Not a saint, but I also pray to him,” he confesses.
How does Román’s family’s religious upbringing influence their coping mechanisms as immigrants facing challenges in the United States?
1. Could you tell us about Román’s family and their religious background? How has their faith impacted their daily lives, and how does it relate to their experience as immigrants in the United States?
2. What are some of the challenges that Roman’s family has faced due to their mixed immigration status, and how has this shaped their perspective on the current political climate?
3. Can you discuss the sentiment within the Roman family about President Trump and his impact on immigration policies, particularly Proposition 314? What are their hopes and fears regarding the future of their situation under his administration?
4. How does Doña Felipa’s faith affect her outlook on the possibility of immigration reform, and what role does she believe it will play in their future? Do other members of the family share her optimism, or do they take a different approach?
5. As an editor, I am curious about the tension between Roman’s personal doubts about God’s existence in light of his father’s death and his mother’s impending deportation. How do other family members grapple with this idea, and how have their beliefs been shaped by their experiences?
