Unable to Return to Nigeria, Immigrant Woman Confronts the Undocumented Life In the United States
Growing up as an undocumented immigrant in America has been challenging, frustrating, and at times, scary.
Toyoshi arrived at the United States from Nigeria in 1996. She was three years old. Her father, who obtained a work visa through a company that employed him, wanted to pursue the American Dream and provide a better life for his wife and Toyosi.
Sadly, Toyosi’s father lost his visa after his employer laid him off during a recession the country experienced that the United States. Toyosi’s mother was pregnant at the time; the family was undocumented, and they saw no opportunities for them back in Nigeria.
In a short essay published on the Facebook Page, We, Too, Are America, Toyoshi’s recounts her experiences while growing up in the United States without a legal immigration status.
Without a social security number, I had to make up excuses as to why I couldn’t get a drivers license in high school. I couldn’t work. As an undocumented immigrant, I couldn’t leave the country without it being considered ‘self-deportation’. I never got to meet my grandparents, and when they died, my family couldn’t go back to Nigeria to bury them.
In the We, Too, Are America Facebook post, Toyoshi goes on to explain what it meant for her to obtain a driver’s license and work permit in 2012 after President Obama announced the creation of the DACA program. She expresses her passion for design, music, and creativity and how it has helped her empower her friends and family.
You can read Toyoshi’s full story through the We, Too, Are America Facebook Page and learn why immigrants like her need Congress to pass the Dream Act.
