“I’ve encountered a lot of parents who just don’t know how it is they can help their kids, that there are Head Start programs,” she says.

PAYCHECK TO PAYCHECK

Jane says her mother learned English mainly by helping with her homework.

“She was a very hands-on mom, but I feel like she’s very much the exception in my community,” she said.

Jane’s mother and father, who is now deceased, first arrived in California in the 1980s. They lived near the border for several years before ultimately making the decision to seek a life in the U.S.

During the time, immigration policies were much more relaxed, and Jane said her parents simply drove into California.

In 1986, Congress passed the Simpson-Mazzoli Act, which made illegal the hiring of undocumented workers but also granted amnesty to seasonal agricultural immigrants and illegal immigrants who had been in the United States prior to 1982. Jane says her father was eligible for these requirements.

“My dad was here for the 1986 amnesty and he started going through the process, but he irresponsibly never finished it,” she says.

Her father’s failure to pursue citizenship ultimately resulted in a difficult economic situation for Jane’s family. He worked in landscaping and gardening, and eventually became self-employed, but his wages were barely enough to support a family of four.

“Work was very uncertain,” Jane says. “It isn’t really a stable occupation.”

Though Jane’s father made a minimal amount of money, her mother nonetheless stayed at home because that was what was expected of her.

However, after her father passed away, Jane says her mother began working full time, and she struggles to invest the same amount of time in raising her younger brother, who is now 10 years old.

“She still tries to sit down with him and work on homework with him, and she wakes up early to go over it,” Jane says. “She still puts in the same amount of effort, it’s just very taxing on her.”

Though he is smart, Jane says she worries about her brother’s future since he now spends time after school with his cousins, who are not as studious as Jane. She goes on to say that, due to their mother’s undocumented status, her brother may not have access to educational resources that could help ensure his academic success.

FEARING THE GOVERNMENT