My great grandfather crossed the border from Mexico into Texas at a time when you didn’t need a green card. That was 1890.
He became a deputy sheriff in Carrizo Springs, Texas, and was killed in the line of duty in 1913. He died in a conflict with men attempting to smuggle guns from Texas to Mexico.
{mosads}My stepfather came in the 1950s from Michoacan, Mexico. He rode the trains to get here and worked in the fields and later in factories. He played mariachi music at nights and weekends in Chicago with one of the first mariachi groups in the city.
He was undocumented for a time, and through a legal process not available to most immigrants today, became a U.S. citizen.
Their children and grandchildren include college graduates, police officers, teachers, nurses, non-profit leaders, business professionals and more.
There are millions of Mexican families with stories like ours.
Donald Trump took pride in Thursday night’s debate that he is making “illegal immigration” a campaign issue.
But the problem is that many of his comments demonize Mexicans and play into the false narrative that we, and by association all Latinos, are undocumented, criminals or worse.
And they also distort the facts that unauthorized immigration is a worsening problem when the numbers have not risen in the last five years, according to PEW Research.
All this contributes to a real climate of discrimination that many Latinos face on a daily basis.
In some parts of Texas, officials are denying birth certificates to U.S.-born children who have undocumented parents. This is unconstitutional.
The deaths of Latinos at the hands of police has received far less attention from California to Washington state to Texas.
The discrimination also can take more subtle forms. Our citizenship or birthplace may be questioned.
“Where are you from?” This is a question I and other Latinos have faced many times.
When I explain that I was born in Chicago, several people have expressed shock.
In fact around 65 percent, or 35 million of the 54 million Latinos in the U.S. were born here, according to PEW Hispanic.
Around half of the estimated 11 million undocumented in the U.S. are Mexican.
Trump ignores that there are significant numbers of Poles, Irish and Filipinos who are undocumented in the U.S.
Latinos are often criticized for speaking Spanish, like a family recently refused a discount on theater tickets in Branson, Missouri. A California woman also was berated by a white woman because she spoke Spanish at an IHOP. The video of the incident went viral and had more than 15 million views on Facebook.
Two-thirds of Latinos are proficient in English. Some, like my mom, born in Texas, and stepfather, speak Spanish more than English because it keeps them close to their culture. But they are both bilingual and U.S. citizens.
There also is this falsehood out there that most Latinos take more than they contribute to this country. And that we are a threat to the American way of life.
There are more than 3 million Hispanic-owned businesses in the U.S.
The number of Hispanics enrolled in college has more than tripled since 1993.
Even the undocumented contribute to the economy paying more than $13 billion a year into Social Security.
Most of the undocumented have lived in the U.S. a median average of 13 years. Clearly they have roots and pay taxes here. But for most there is no way to adjust their immigration status unless Congress passes immigration reform.
The waiting periods to gain legal status can average 15 to 20 years for people from Mexico. Due to quotas, most people from other countries don’t have to wait this long.
Yes, some immigrants have committed crimes, including the recent terrible murder of a young woman in California.
But studies show that immigrants commit less crimes on average.
In fact, Latinos have fought and died for this country dating back to the Civil War.
We need to shift the narrative that Latinos are a threat to the U.S.
While several Latino leaders and celebrities, including rapper Pitbull and actress America Ferrera, have called attention to this issue, too many people remain silent about the daily insults faced by our community.
Puente is an associate professor of journalism at Columbia College Chicago and a senior facilitator with The OpEd Project. She also writes the Chicanisima blog at Chicago Now.