One of President Donald Trump's first acts after assuming office was signing several executive orders making good on his promise to crack down on immigration in the U.S. Those orders have led U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to step up the capture and deportation of people in the country without proper documentation.
That’s led Joni Gamboa, a mother of six and small business owner in Hart County, to fear the impact the deportation policy could have on her family. Gamboa is worried her children would be without financial and emotional support from their father if he were to be deported. According to Gamboa, the father of her children is an undocumented immigrant living in the United States.
In an interview with WKU Public Radio, Gamboa said she's proud of her mixed ethnic heritage and hopes the difference in cultures that make up southern Kentucky can be celebrated instead of attacked.
WKYU Public Radio: I am curious what your experience is like as a Mexican American?
Joni Gamboa: Oh, well, so I get labeled a lot. I look Spanish. When you first see me, that's the first thing you'll notice is I take more of my father's features. However, being in the world today, even just growing up, sometimes it's like you don't win with the white population and you don't win with the Spanish population sometimes because Spanish people look at you like, 'Oh, well, you speak English, you're Americanized.' And then Caucasians look at you like, 'oh, well, you're just one of them.' So being what you would call us as Chicana is we are kind of stuck in the middle."
WKYU: And I wanted to also ask you if you're comfortable talking about your son's father?
JG: My children's father? Yeah. So he is illegal, so we're no longer together, but he is a provider for my children. So without him providing, I basically have to work three or four jobs to take care of the kids by myself. I worry so much for my kids because with this immigration, deportation stuff that they have going on now, what if they pick him up? What happens to my family? What happens to my kids? More so the kids, they need their father, they need their mother to survive. There's no other way we can.
WKYU: I'm curious if you're able to maybe just tell me about the conversations that you have with your children, about the possibility of their father (being deported)?
JG: The conversations that I have with them are basically more towards if immigration goes into the school. Don't say nothing, request to call me, and don't be scared, but just don't say anything. Because that's going to protect your father, that's going to protect me, and that's going to protect you guys. I'm worried. I'm a Mexican American. I've never been in a situation like this where I had to tell my children to not be scared. That's not normal. That is not normal at all.
WKYU: And has he expressed fears, the fact that he's undocumented?
JG: Yes, he has. And he's been here (for) more than 30 years. He pays taxes. Yeah, he's scared. He's scared to go to the store. He's scared to drive to work sometimes. It's just been very chaotic. But the most important thing is the safety and the security of my children, their father and myself.
WKYU: If he were to be deported, how would that impact your kids? How would that impact you?
JG: Well, I guess I could sum it up by this. I'd be knocking on the government's door. I mean, I'm a hard worker, but that just goes back to what I said. I'm a minority worker. I'm low labor worker. I don't make enough to provide food, put the clothes on my kids. I have a daughter here in college here at Western, I can't help her.
So yeah, I need to knock on the government's door. I would definitely need assistance. So we got to figure this out. We got to figure it out. And we don't need to hate each other. We all need to love each other. And if anybody out there you don't understand the Hispanic community or the culture, get to know it. Don't be afraid just because your friend is afraid. Get to know it. Get to know me.
This transcript has been edited for clarity and length.
