Paula Guzman and her daughters

Paula Guzman, U.S.Citizen Married to an Aspiring U.S. Citizen

I was born in Sparks, Nevada and graduated from Sparks High School. I moved to Oregon in Nov.,1994, where a few months later I met my husband and the father of my daughters, Ramiro, who was born in Mexico. Rachel was born in Reno and Angelica was born in Oregon.

Ramiro retired after working for the Mexican Army for 22 years. He would go for months at a time into remote mountains to capture the drug cartel.  He didn't work for the U.S. but what he did benefited the U.S.

Ramiro came to the US on a Tourist Visa. Then he worked hard on farms and his bosses asked him to return each year.

In 1995 after he and others completed their seasonal work on a Christmas tree farm, the owner of the farm called the immigration authorities and Ramiro was detained. The judge said that Ramiro had to leave the country by Nov. 1996 or be deported. Ramiro had to be out of the US for 10 years before he could reapply for a Green Card.

It was difficult for me and the girls to move to Mexico, but we did, to be with him and keep our family together. It was hard for us in Mexico. There was a lot of violence. We heard gunshots and grenades at night. We would sleep on the floor in the room furthest from the street so we wouldn’t be hit by bullets.

Many of our friends and neighbors were murdered by the drug cartels. They would hang people from the bridges, and cut up dead people and display the body parts to scare everyone. Even our pastor’s son was kidnapped and held for ransom.

After 10 years of waiting in Mexico, my daughters and I came back to the US in 2011 so they could have a good education and we wouldn’t be around all the violence.

I wonder every day if I made the right decision. Ramiro’s papers still have not been approved. He is still waiting. He has filed all the documents, but the immigration system is broken.

My girls and I miss him terribly. We are often sad and try not to cry all the time. 

Rachel had been planning for her Baptism & 15^th Birthday  "Quince Años" since she was 9. She even designed her dress. But we didn’t have the big party because her dad wasn’t here with us.

Our hearts ache for him. The girls love being back in the U.S. They love school here and all they are learning also being with family. But Romero is not here with us.