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He did not cross the border to support his family and did not become a refugee to save his life, but Ricardo Chavez, a 23-year-old UNM alumnus, has faced immigration issue that changed his life: his father was deported.
Chavez, who graduated from UNM in May 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in political science, was born and raised in Roswell, where he spent his early life with his parents and brothers. However, when he was 6, his father was deported to Mexico.
“That my dad was deported when I was younger was something that shaped what I want to do,” Chavez said. “I want to be an immigration lawyer not only to help my dad but also other people who need support.”
Chavez said aside from hard economic times, his father’s departure affected him emotionally.
“Of course financially it was very difficult, but not having him here was even worse,” he said.
Chavez said his parents, Ricardo and Elizabeth, lived in New Mexico before they had kids. He said his father worked legally with a temporary visa as a low-skilled worker at a dairy farm for more than six years and his mother was a homemaker in the process of gaining permanent residence in the U.S.
Before Chavez’s father’s work permit expired, his father sought legal advice. But the immigration consultants he paid to help him renew his visa and adjust his legal status failed to make good on their promises. After a few months, the Chavez family received a knock on the door. Chavez remembers seeing his father leave with immigration officials, but he didn’t understand that his father wouldn’t be coming back until his mother later explained it to him.
“Unfortunately, my dad was taken advantage by notarios publicos (notary publics), so it was a lot of waste of money and a lot applications that were not sent,” Chavez said. “My dad wasn’t able to adjust his status, and then he was deported.”
Chavez said studying political science at UNM helped him understand that laws must be respected, which helped him come to terms with his father’s deportation.
“I had a lot of anger toward Immigration because of my dad’s deportation,” he said. “But the more I learned, the more I understood that I just couldn’t be angry at anyone because there is a reason why it happens and they (immigration officers) just follow the law.”
Chavez became involved in social work while he was a student and in July 2011 he began working at the New Mexico Immigration Law Center. He said he works as a community advocate advising and translating for low-income immigrants.
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Chavez said he helped create projects such as Pathways, a Bernalillo County program that helps connect residents to the health care services that they need, and the Public Allies, a national program that encourages human rights and justice across the country.
Chavez is moving in August to Los Angeles, where he will study international law at the Loyola Law School. He said that studying out of state will offer him new experiences and a better understanding of how to help immigrants, but that he plans to come back home once he finishes school.
“I decided to study law in L.A. because it’s good to meet people there, meet lawyers there and network, so that when I come back to New Mexico (I can) then bring that experience back,” he said.
Chavez’s father lives and works in Chihuahua, Mexico, and Chavez and his brothers visit their father twice a year. He said his father’s being deported helped him build a sense of personal and professional values that he believes will make him a better immigration lawyer.
“This experience shaped how I grew up,” he said. “It made me want to be a good lawyer so that I wouldn’t take advantage of people like some lawyers and notarios publicos do.”
