The Journal of the Baptist Peacemaker October-December 2016 - 11

sTorIes oF Peacemakers

Undocumented: It's Complicated.
by Josué Saldivar
Staff note: Josué Saldivar represented the BPFNA at the United We
Dream Network's National Congress last June. With a thousand people
assembled in Houston, TX, the meeting was hailed as the largest ever
gathering of undocumented immigrant youth leaders. Josué is a DACA
(Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipient. Below are his thoughts
following the conference.

hen we hear the word "undocumented," it is common
to think of a brown, Spanish-speaking Latinx who emigrated from Mexico and is now in the United States without
legal immigration status. This stereotype can be expected
because the media continues to perpetuate this exact same
profile time and time again.
As an undocumented individual who is a brown, Spanish-speaking (bilingual) Latinx from Mexico, I find it essential
for me not to fall into this fallacy-that all other members of
the undocumented community have the same characteristics
and/or experiences as me.
The literal meaning of the word "undocumented" is
"not-documented, without papers, without proper documentation." Nevertheless, the use of the word goes further; it also
creates an image in your mind about the people it describes.
I, myself, have been at fault for looking at the immigration
struggle only through my own lens. I let my own ignorance
and unawareness keep me blinded about the complexities of
the undocumented reality.
The characteristics above are not
the only ones that characterize the
undocumented community, and as
soon as we start seeing the facts, we
will realize that the undocumented
community is very vibrant and diverse.
We may very well have similar stories
and experiences. There is a common
struggle that we all face, but we are all
unique-each and every one of us.
This summer, I attended the
biggest annual gathering of undocumented youth in the US. It was my
first time attending such a gathering.
I witnessed a few things that required
quite a bit of processing. This first
happened when the keynote speaker,

Jorge Ramos, shared his words with us. Mr. Ramos is a wellknown journalist in the Spanish-speaking media. I didn't know
how to feel about some of the things he said.
He asserted that the parents of undocumented youth are
the generation of sacrifice. He followed by saying that it is our
parents' silence that has allowed us, the undocumented youth, to
be heard as much as we have been. It was a moment of strong
conflict for me because, in that very same room, there were
parents, from various places around the nation, who have been,
and continue to be, in the struggle and fight with us youth.
Our parents have also become unafraid and they have been
able to speak by themselves about their own experience in the
United States. I ended up asking myself a couple of questions:
Did I just hear that our parents are essentially some sort of sacrifice in order for us, the youth, to receive some sort of blessing/
reward in return? Did a well-known Spanish-speaking journalist,
who is not undocumented, just say that our parent's future is what
we need to give up in order for us to have ours?
My voice as an undocumented youth is not better than the
voice of my mom and dad. My own experience is not more
legitimate, more honorable, or more worthy to be heard than
that of my parents. Our parents are not voiceless. They don't
need someone else to speak on their behalf. We all have a voice.
Please see "Undocumented" on page 12.

Right: Josué Saldivar (right) with JP Bierly
at the BPFNA Summer Conference.
Photo by Steve Hammond.

Baptist Peacemaker

OCT-DEC 2016 11

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of the Baptist Peacemaker October-December 2016