Isaac Rivera
Portrait by: Leopoldo Peña
40a. An American Life Part I: Childhood Arrival
“It was not until my senior year in high school when the burdensome of not being a documented citizen started to really affect me. All the college applications asked for a social security. Scholarship applications did as well. The hopes to continue studying started to fade little by little.”
40b. An American Life: Dreams Torn to Pieces
“That day would be the first day and only time I had ever gotten arrested. I portrayed to be calm but inside my mind was playing thousands of scenarios. What was going to happen to me? What should I do? Was I going to be okay? What was going to happen to my fiance? So I was taken to the Murrierra detention facility where I was told I was going to be booked and begin the process for my removal from the United States. When I got there the same officers that took me there started to process me. One of the guys sarcastically with a grin on his face says to me <<congratulations you are the first person that we get for the month of june>> they then proceeded with all the paperwork to book me in.”
40c. An American Life: Part III Hitting Bottom, Rising, Soaring, Flying High
“It was my first time ever in any type of jail cell. Not even in a field trip had I been to a jail before. The only thing I knew about jails or detention facilities were from the movies. The AC was on blast to the max. It was super cold … There was a camera on one corner and a very tiny little window in the middle of the door. That would be the longest day and night I have ever experienced. It’s like those moments froze in time.”
40c. An American Life: Part III Hitting Bottom, Rising, Soaring, Flying High