Overcoming barriers to find a home

At age six, senior Beka Difucio arrived in the United States from Brazil with her older brother and sister thinking she was simply paying a visit to her mother, but nearly twelve years later she remains in the US as an immigrant with a green card who has worked over the years to overcome language and social barriers.

“I wasn’t supposed to move here. I only came here to visit my mother… I was only six and I didn’t really know what was going on, so I just stayed with her,” Difucio said.

When she packed her bags for a vacation, Difucio had no idea that she would ultimately be moving her entire life to the United States where her mother had already been living for a year. She couldn’t foresee the great times she would have living with her family in the US, nor did she realize the academic, social, and political discrimination she would ultimately face as a immigrant.

What started off as a vacation quickly turned into an extensive and costly process in applying for a visa and later permanent residency to live alongside her mother in the United States.

“Originally, I got a five year visa so I could stay here for five years, and then afterwards is when we started the documentation process [for a green card],” Difucio said. “It took a long time and it was very expensive.”

According to the U.S. Citizens and Immigration Services website, immigrants between the age of 14-78 have to pay a $1140 form fee and a $85 biometric service fee which makes applying for a green card cost nearly $1225. If the applicant is under 14 the total cost for application is reduced to $750.

Before settling in Northborough, Difucio moved multiple times within Massachusetts and Florida until she eventually made her way back to Northborough at age fourteen.

“My mom was with her then boyfriend, and his job moved around a lot, so we would just go where his job went,” Difucio said. “It was hectic because we never really had a place to stay, just because we moved [so often]. I don’t really have any childhood friends because of that.”

Difucio was first enrolled into the public school system in Fort Myers, Florida. However, according to Difucio, the transition from Brazilian schools to American schools was difficult because the school administration and teachers took very little time to understand the needs of student immigrants.

“They didn’t understand. They didn’t take the time out of their day to understand,” Difucio said. “I guess the school I was at didn’t really know how to handle it very well… They send the kids to a different classroom to learn from a teacher that does not even speak their language. Then they assume you are going to learn [English] from flashcards or looking at a book.”

“At first, I refused to even talk to anyone,” Difucio said. “I would just cry. I didn’t want to be [in school]. I didn’t understand what was going on. As it went on, I just didn’t want to talk and I would just sit there to the point where I even stayed back a year.”

Difucio explains that she still tends to feel insecure in a classroom setting because of her initial experiences in elementary school, but she has made progress in terms of her English and feeling confident speaking it.

“Even now, sometimes when I’m reading, I struggle with pronouncing of the words,” Difucio said. “Even though I can speak English fluently and read English fluently, reading in a group I still get self-conscious, and I’m scared I’m going to mess up.”

“When she first got here, she was very scared because of new people,” Difucio’s mother Neusimar Bailey said. “She was insecure and didn’t like being alone. Now she’s more open and communicates more with people, and she is not afraid of being alone and is much more independent.”

However, language barriers were not the only obstacles Difucio found difficult to overcome. There were also social barriers that made Difucio’s transition into the United States challenging.

“In first grade, it wasn’t right when I moved in but I was still learning English, and I understood a lot but I didn’t feel comfortable speaking it,” Difucio said. “At the elementary school I was at, there were other Brazilians, and I asked them ‘Hey, how do you say may I go to the bathroom?’ and these girls were mean apparently, and they literally told me to go tell the teacher to ‘F*** off,’ and I said that to the teacher, and the teacher got super mad at me.”

Even after twelve years, Difucio still occasionally faces discrimination in a classroom from peers.

“Sophomore year, I took Law and Society, and there was a senior in the class and she said to me, ‘I can deport you whenever I want to,’” Difucio said. “I told her that she can’t because I was legal and I had a green card, but she said it didn’t matter… I didn’t lash out at that girl but it upset me and I’ll never forget that she said that to me.”

However, according to Difucio, from her experiences she senses there is an atmosphere of fear in the United States that makes people less accepting of immigrants, which also makes it difficult for many immigrants to integrate themselves into society.

“Here, there is a culture of fear,” Difucio said. “Everyone is scared of what they don’t know… In Brazil, when you are new, people are quick to introduce you to their friends and family and figure out your likes and dislikes. Here, when there is a new person people reach out to them but don’t find a way to integrate them into society.”

Difucio also thinks that another divisive force in the United States is the current President of the United States, Donald Trump.

“As a woman and as an immigrant, I don’t know how people are going to react [to his election],” Difucio said. “He is very influential as a president. People are going to start to think it’s okay to do what he is doing or say what he is saying. In the next four years, I think people are going to be much more open about discriminating. If he does it, why can’t anyone else?”

“I think building a wall and sending people away would be very divisive because how do you send someone [a child] back to a country they do not remember?” Difucio said. “There is this girl I know, and she was brought here when she was one or two. She is illegal. She does not know anything about Brazil. She speaks the language [Portuguese], but how is [she] supposed to make a life there? She is as American as anyone here but she just doesn’t have a piece of paper saying it.”

According to Difucio, in many circumstances, children are brought to the United States by their parents who only want a better life and more opportunities for their children.

“All they want is to make ends meet and to put food on the table,” Difucio said. “[The kids] were forced into this situation, however. [Sometimes] other students have a preconceived notion of immigrants and they look badly on those students, but it was not their choice. They are here because their parents are here.”

Difucio believes that immigrants should be what binds the country together rather than divides it since the original settlers in America were immigrants and moved to the United States for a better life.

“Everyone here is an immigrant,” Difucio said. “You’re from Europe… You are an immigrant here too. This country should be united because of its immigrants. To be American is to be an immigrant.”

Difucio wants to prevent what happened to her when she was a child from happening to any other student immigrants entering the United States. She agrees that the English Language Development or ELD program at Algonquin is helping advance these students, but acceptance by classmates is a far more important encouragement.

“You can be against immigration, but don’t make someone feel bad about themselves because of it,” Difucio said. “You don’t know their story; you don’t know their situation. Don’t judge someone that you do not know.”

Difucio has roots both in Brazil and America and explains that both cultures have created the personality and identity she has today.

“I don’t know if I’m more Brazilian or American,” Difucio said. “I fit into both in a way. I love being Brazilian and I’ve never hidden that from anyone, but my life could have turned out so different if I stayed in Brazil.”

Despite many of her struggles academically and socially, Difucio appreciates her life here. Difucio explains that her mother and friends have helped her make a home in the United States she did not think was possible.

“For me, I would say home is where my mother is and where my friends are,” Difucio said. “I don’t feel out of place anymore. I feel like I have made good friends here at Algonquin.”