- Thank you so much for being vulnerable
and sharing your story.
Being able to experience it through your eyes
was mind-blowing, extremely heartbreaking.
So thank you.
What's happened in your lives since
participating in this documentary series?
- Well, for my brother and I, at this moment in time
we don't really feel safe in this country.
We don't feel welcome
and it does seem like time is running out for us.
- Our appointment with ICE was postponed indefinitely.
So we were just in this limbo.
We didn't know what was going on.
- My father was detained
and a week later he was deported to Colombia.
- I didn't even get to say bye to him.
He just left for work like normally
and I got a call saying they got him.
At that point, I think everything changed.
'Cause I never imagined in a million years
that they would actually detain him.
That this was something that they were only going to do
to people who committed crimes, to murderers, to whatever.
We're not safe in our house anymore.
I haven't been in my house in a month.
I haven't slept in my bed.
It doesn't make any sense.
My dad went through hell for eight days
in these detainment centers.
I think everybody at this point
has an idea of what's going on.
They have people locked up in these cages, essentially.
They sleep on the floors with these aluminum blankets.
In these rooms, they have the lights on 24 hours a day.
Being able to speak with him
after the eight days that he was there,
I'd never heard the pain that he had in his voice
ever in my life.
I think he will be damaged by that experience,
just being there for eight days, for the rest of his life.
It was an absolute hell.
They're telling us that they're going after us
and that we could possibly be in this same situation.
This country's not livable for us anymore.
- Hearing all these things really
ruins your determination to stay.
It really just makes you think that could be me.
That could be my parents.
That could be my siblings.
You don't want that.
What's the point in pushing so hard
if all you're gonna get is that?
- What do you guys think that you would be doing
if you didn't have to worry about this?
- I think about this every day.
If this wasn't happening, I'd be going through school.
Just working hard to achieve what I wanna achieve,
which is being a civil engineer.
I'd be living a normal life.
I'd be living the life that my next door neighbor does.
It's nothing crazy, but it's what I dream of.
- Right.
- We've never been able to travel anywhere
outside of the country
because ICE has our passports
and the only way we can get out of this country
is through them deporting us.
- In Israel, I have so many cousins
and so many aunts and uncles and nieces and nephews
and I feel like it's come to the point where
I don't know if I will ever meet them
and I know a lot of my friends
are best friends with their cousins.
They get to go to Israel for vacation.
I'm missing out on so much.
- Personally, hearing all of these things
that you guys are not able to enjoy
about a country that I live in is very difficult.
What do you guys think that you're missing out on?
- The ability to simply go to school
is the most important thing to me, has been a struggle.
We don't sleep at night.
Just a million scenarios run through my head every day.
- I got robbed last week.
I was scared to call the police
because I didn't know could they track my family?
Would they get in touch with my parents?
Would they come to my house?
Would they wanna see who's there?
Basically don't exist.
- What is your biggest fear?
- To have this adrenaline every single day.
To be scared every single day for the rest of my life.
That nothing will ever change.
- My biggest fear is being detained
and going through what my dad went though.
I literally had a nightmare last night about
being dropped off in a country that I've never been to
since I was three.
That I wouldn't even know where I was standing.
- With all of this fear that you guys
have to live with every day,
do you find that it's really hard to trust people?
- I've kept it a secret.
I like to represent myself as Colombian
because that's what I am,
but people never really assume that
I don't have a status in this country.
When we received new that our private bill was taken away
and we were left without status,
my biggest fear at the time was I was gonna leave
without anyone knowing what happened to me.
So I made a crazy decision to tell my friend Brian.
He was someone that was very open to it
and made me feel very comfortable talking to someone
and if it wasn't for that conversation,
I don't think I would've ever spoken to someone about it.
It makes me cry just because of how special that moment was
and we got really close because of it,
but it was definitely hard at the time.
I want people to know about my situation.
I need people to know about my situation.
And yeah, Selena.
You're good, thank you.
- You really got me going here.
When it came to high school,
it would bring up a lot of questions.
Everyone would always ask why don't you have your license?
Why don't you have a car?
Why do you keep moving houses?
If a question came up between a close friend and I,
I wouldn't hide it from them
because I feel like it is hard to find people you trust
but it depends on how long you've known them
or what their situation is,
what their beliefs are.
- Do you feel American?
How would you describe that feeling?
- I feel like you couldn't get any more American
than us four at this table right now.
- I feel like I am an American.
I've lived here my whole life.
I was six months old when I moved.
I don't know anything but here.
I don't want anyone to have to fear
the place that they grew up in.
I don't want anyone to experience that
and I just want America as a whole to know
and understand what's really happening
when these people are getting deported.
They don't just get a plane ticket
and say, "Bye, go back to your old life."
We don't have an old life anymore.
This is what we have.
- I don't know what else I would be considered.
I have Colombian family who would tease me.
They see me as American.
I speak English.
My Spanish isn't the strongest.
I've lived here since I was three.
It's my whole life.
- What you see on the news is not really what's happening.
They're trying to label me as a criminal.
They're trying to label people as much as possible.
We're not a threat to society.
We're simply just being looked at differently
and portrayed as an enemy.
- There's millions of us here
and you don't hear about I would say 99% of them
simply because these are people who just come here
looking for a better life
and they're working and they're minding their own business.
- I feel like we've been given the stereotype
that immigrants have come here to sell drugs,
to rob, to hurt, to steal, to do all these terrible things
when in reality we've come here to live a safer life
and instead of looking at us as people
who wanna take from you,
look at us as people who want to be with you.
We wanna be able to work together.
- I really hope that the fight doesn't end with us leaving.
I hope that the fight continues to the point where
this country welcomes us with open arms
and sees us for who we really are.
We really just wanna make sure this story's known
and at the end of the day
that's all that really matters to me
is that this doesn't happen to other families.
- I hope for my family to one day live in a place
where we're completely accepted
and we don't feel constant fear
and I hope that this country comes to realize
the complete injustice that's being done
and that one day we can live in an America
that is open to immigrants
and lives up to its values of freedom and liberty.
- You guys have given me hope.
There are beautiful people in this world that
do want this country to change and to improve
and seek logic in the situation.
- What do you hope for the future of America for us?
(Bar laughs) (Selena laughs)
- Well, a huge part of why I wanted to be a part of this
is to also be a voice for so many people who can't
and are terrified to speak about it.
I don't even think people realize that my family
also has a background.
My grandparents were immigrants.
To just think about the life that I've been given
and how blessed I am.
My hope is that I see change.
- We're all in this together.
- Doesn't end here.
- I think you are wonderful people.
And I want you to stay.