This article tells the true story of an immigrant living in Tennessee, as recounted in an interview on January 9, 2026. Her story is one of millions in the United States and hundreds of thousands in Tennessee, composing over 6% of our state population, according to the American Immigration Council.
I met Jane [whose name has been changed to protect her identity] as a kid when she was in her twenties, since my family was a client of her local business, and she has been in and out of my life ever since. Last month, in a one-on-one conversation, I asked about her experience as an immigrant, how current immigration views affect her, and what misinformation she encounters most frequently.
Jane began by telling me about her citizenship interview in November 2025. As she walked through the doors of the immigration office for her interview, she encountered posters saying, “Deport Illegals Now” and “Protect your homeland. Defend your culture.”
On a day she had waited years for, these were the words she was met with. According to her lawyer, intimidation tactics like these have only recently been enacted in 2025. These posters struck her entire humanity down to one word: ‘illegal.’
Jane arrived in America at eight years old with her mother. She said goodbye to her family, friends, culture, and everything else she knew in Mexico, assuming she and her mom were simply going on a trip. She was told they would take only what they needed, but it was not the true reason they were leaving. She has not seen her family since.
When Jane grew up hearing the word “immigrant,” it wasn’t a special word, and it wasn’t something that distinguished someone as different. That all changed when she moved to America. The word ‘immigrant’ was replaced by ‘alien,’ and ‘undocumented’ changed to ‘criminal.’ A place of more opportunities morphed into a place where she was seen as less than.
She described the culture shock, saying, “I couldn’t speak the language. I was different because I spoke Spanish. The culture, as well. There were things I wasn’t familiar with, and that’s when I realized I was an immigrant. And you know, my status, I wasn’t legal here. That made a huge difference.” Even as a kid, the word ‘immigrant’ translated to ‘different.’
Jane and her mother made many sacrifices to come to America.
“Being taken away from your family, your culture, everything you knew, and now it’s like starting from scratch, assimilating,” she said. ‘You couldn’t be close to your family as much…it’s a different system than back home.”
She explains that spending all her adolescence in the States was a challenge.
“Having to be Americanized, [while] still keeping my roots…that has been one of the struggles for me,” she said.
As she went into high school, Jane became aware of the differences in her experiences.
“See[ing] my friends around me, getting driver’s license and things like that, the normal things as you grow… [I] start to realize, ‘oh wait a minute, I’m not like all the other kids. I can’t do the same things.’ I tried to live my life as much as I could and assimilate,” she said.
Later, she was put into a class to prepare her for college, but she knew she couldn’t apply due to her legal status.
“That’s when I started to face all the realities that come with not being documented in this country,” she said.
In 2017, Jane enrolled in Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, giving her access to a driver’s license, the ability to work, and a path to citizenship, but not residency.
“I was only able to obtain permanent residency through my marriage ,” she said. Permanent residency confers privileges like being able to vote, travel, and own property; however, permanent residents cannot vote in local, state, or federal elections.
“I was married to an American, but for me, for my country, I wasn’t able to apply for a residency unless I was pardoned for entering the country illegally. I had to ask for pardon, and I was able to do that because my husband was in the Navy, and I was able to stay here in the country. But I was on Parole in Place.”
Parole in Place is a U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services policy that allows for immigrants to remain in the United States “on a temporary, case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit,” according to the USCIS website.
“[Parole in Place] is what granted me to stay in the country without having to leave and just waiting. I was pardoned for entering the country illegally, and that’s how I obtained permanent residency,” she said. “I was able to apply for citizenship in March 2025, waited a couple month[s], took the civics test, had my interviews, and that’s when I became a citizen, took my oath.”
Now that she is a citizen, Jane is most excited to vote and help others through the process.
Gaining citizenship took her seven years, despite having a faster path by being married to an active-duty American service member. Even though she is a documented American citizen, she still comments on how her experience has changed through this administration.
“Even for me, I know I’m legal, but I feel like I’m also a prey to prejudice for being different, the color of my skin,” she said.
Addressing the misinformation and prejudice towards immigrants, Jane adds, “Just because one person might do one bad thing, doesn’t mean all the people will. Not all immigrants are criminals. [But] because of that sentiment, all immigrants are paying.”
Statistically speaking, it is more likely for someone born in the U.S. to commit a crime than immigrants, according to the American Immigration Council.
“There are immigrants who are contributing; they are your neighbors,” she said.
Still, misinformation about immigrants and crime is unfortunately highly common. When asked about the general feeling of the immigrant community these days, she acknowledges fear.
“Definitely fear…of not being able to go out and do normal things that you usually would be able to do, like go to the store or buy groceries, because at any time, a cop can stop you and ask for your documentation. It’s been a constant fear, to the point of paranoia,” she said. “People stop going to work. People stop running their businesses.”
“Immigrants make America great,” she added. “People have [always] contributed to this country from many places. The beginning of this country is freedom and the pursuit of happiness. When immigrants come here, that is what they are trying to do: pursue that dream, pursue that happiness, however that may be, working hard, finding a new job, and integrating themselves into this country. That’s one of the things people forget about with all this. We are also contributors to the country.”
She saw this especially in the composition of her citizenship classes.
“We were all coming in, and it was people from different countries, the Middle East, Asia, South America, everywhere,” she said. “It reminded me of going into my ELL class when I first came here. There were people from many countries learning English, and I realized that everyone being so different shouldn’t be something that should be put against people just because you are from a different country.”
Ultimately, her message is one of resilience and hope for a better future in America for immigrants.
“Everyone I met there is packaging the meat at the factory, cleaning the windows of people’s houses, building houses, cleaning houses,” she said. “It’s all a contribution, and it’s what makes America great.”
A version of this interview was originally published at homeintennessee.org in partnership with AWAKE. For more information, visit awaketn.org.
