The Letter

A 10-year-old girl pens a letter to the president pleading for amnesty.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
High listeners, just a quick heads up out of the
shadows tell stories of people fleeing and living in sometimes
violent environments. It is the winter of in A group
of six bright eyed ten year old girls from Del

(00:22):
Rae Elementry hop in their school bus for a short
drive to Fresno State to compete at the annual Peach
Blossom Festival. Their teacher, Mrs Arrenas, is excited for her group.
These girls keep each other on their toes if they
respect each other, but they're also competitive toward each other,

(00:44):
something missus Arrenas strongly encourages. This is the third time
Marcella has participated in the annual Peach Blossom Festival. Marcella,
and honor student, is no stranger to this stage. Spend
every Sunday of her life singing hymns in front of
her church, wearing a long sleeved blue satin dress with

(01:06):
white ribbon around her waist and collar bone that her
mother spent hours making just for the occasion. Marcella walks
up to the stage, her head raised up high, her
hands clasped together, and begins to recite her oral presentation

(01:29):
to the amazement of everyone in attendance. All six of
Mrs Arna's students, including Marcella, when their presentations so surprised
that a reporter from the local paper asks the group
to pose for a picture. Mrs Arna's gathers the girls,

(01:52):
pulling them closer to her, the tallest in the back,
the three shortest in the front. Okay, everyone, I want
to see big smile the girls nor Mrs senas safe
for one. Give him that big smile. There is no
gloating here, no hands on hip. Instead, you see a

(02:16):
humble group of girls from a small immigrant town, looking
out of place in this big city. And if you
look closely at this picture, you will see something else.
Marcella is hiding behind her close mouthed smile. She is afraid.

(02:37):
She's afraid she won't have the opportunity to share this
win with her parents. Marcella is afraid she's going to
burst into her home and find it empty. Y I'm

(03:06):
Patti Rodriguez and I'm Mary Glendo, and this is out
of the shadows. Children of eighty six Immigrants and their
children have long lived in the shadows of America. Their
destinies aren't just shaped by where they come from, but
by their particular place in history, The lives of millions
of immigrants and their children were changed by one lucky
stroke of a pen by an unlikely ally, President Ronald Reagan.

(03:31):
This podcast will examine the ripple effects that bill had
on first generation kids of immigrants who are navigating intergenerational
mobility and transforming the cultural landscape. This is an untold
story of luck, timing, triumph, opportunity, survival, and of course hope.

(04:01):
Doing research for this podcast, I came across the letter
that I'm holding here now, and it feels like fate.
The Reagan Library digitized and saved this letter written by
a ten year old little girl from Fresno who was
pleading for sympathy from the President to help her dad.

(04:22):
The only leverage she had was her good grades. Dear
President Reagan, my name is mart Sella Sanchez. I'm ten
years old and I live in del Rey, California, with
my parents, Jose and Romilia Sanchez, three sisters and one brother,
and the oldest of us five and I studied at
Delray Elementary. Imagine that a little kid who felt so

(04:49):
compelled to protect her family that she decided to write
a letter to America's boss trying to prove that her
family deserved to be American. She went straight to the top.
I was so inspired by this letter that I decided
to try and find a little girl who wrote it. Yes,

(05:15):
they were recording. Now, okay, great, thank you so much. UM. Sure,
I cannot believe it, UM, And I did. That's Marcela
Sanchez who sent the letter to President Reagan forty years ago.
To be exact. She still lives in Fresno County and
it's now a corporate finance manager. Do you remember writing

(05:38):
that letter. I do remember writing it, especially the part
about the report, because I was very proud of my
grades back then. I'm enclosing a copy of my report Carden,
some pictures of me in the newspaper, and some awards.
I was born in Mexico with another sister of mine.

(05:59):
My sisters and brother were born in California. My father
and mother came here to find a better way to live.
Since nineteen seventy four, my father has worked as a
gardener janitor, but since October night he has been working
in the police department in president It's nineteen seventy four

(06:23):
and Marcella Sanchez is only three years old. She and
her mom dad and little sister. The entire family is
packing to leave their home in the Mexican state of
Vera Cruz. A few days later, led by her father Jose,

(06:43):
the family finds themselves in del Rey, a small country
town in Fresno County, California. Soon the family becomes six
and the Santances get to work on building a new
life and despite being undocumented, and Romelia do their best

(07:05):
to shield their children from the everyday struggles. They never
go without food, they always have a roof over their heads.
Bromelia makes Marzilla and her three sisters dresses. Did they
get to wear to church every Sunday? You know, I would.
We always had clothes, but it was not until um

(07:29):
I started, you know, paying attention. Because a parent can
only shield a child for so long before they begin
to ask questions, before they begin to pretend to be
asleep to eavesdrop in those late night conversations, before their
problems begin to eat at their own children. I remember vividly,

(07:55):
like late at night listening to my parents talk about
their finances, talk about their struggles, and they were they
were very, very discreet in their room, but I was
always rolled nose and roll you know I knew a lot.
When I was ten years old, my parents to shield

(08:15):
me from the everyday struggles, though it was almost impossible.
We lived in a small backhouse the size of a garage.
There was absolutely no place to hide anything. My mom
was working for a clothing company, then in the evening
she was doing night school. My dad was teaching her
to drive on the weekends because taking the bus so

(08:37):
early in the morning was becoming too dangerous. Both my
parents worked long hours. My mom would get home from
school at PM, and on most nights, as exhausted as
she was, will prepare us. We was comfri Coles for dinner.
She never wanted us to go to bed combre and

(08:59):
we would only see her for an hour. Maybe my dad,
we rarely saw him. He worked the night shift, sometimes
even longer. Most of the struggles my parents were shielding
us from was the fear of how we're going to
pay this bill, the rent, my braces, Where were we
going to get that money for my mom's car. I

(09:22):
would go to bed praying to God to make me rich.
I would daydream what life would be if I found
a bag full of money on my way to school.
Maybe my mom would work less. Maybe my dad would
get a job where he can pick us up from school.
Maybe my mom wouldn't have to worry anymore about my braces.

(09:45):
And if only I could get the money to buying
from my parents so they can learn English, maybe, just
maybe we could live as care free as the families
I watched on TV. After my parents both got their
green card, I slowly stopped worrying if my dad would
make it home. By then, I had slowly forgotten the

(10:09):
fear of the word migra. They had a feeling of
my entire body working against me at the fear that
my dad's work would get rated. That a feeling was
suppressed in the depths of my subconsciousness along with the
days I worried if my dad was going to come home.

(10:29):
So while for me that fear was behind me, for Marcella,
it is beginning again. Out of the shadows will be
right back. Oh, now, back to the show. My mother

(10:54):
is afraid about my follow's job on the economic security
of my family because we were one of the many
dammies under the Silva versus Viva jacket control. I asked
my mother who could help us, and she told me
God and President Reagan. Then I got to write to
you to ask you to please help us with this
one thing. Are we Go residents. In the late sixties

(11:16):
onto the mid seventies, undocumented immigrants in Western Hemisphere countries
like Mexico and Watemala with the U S born children
could apply for legal permanent residency. When the immigration law
changed in ninete, no more baby case immigrant visa numbers
could be issued. Many undocumented immigrants were then immediately subject

(11:39):
to deportation orders. However, Terry fear Tag, a Chicago immigration lawyer,
soon discovered that the State Department had wrongfully issued nearly
one and fifty thousand Western Hemisphere immigrant visa numbers to
Cuban refugees. Mr fear Tag organized a small team of
lawyers who quickly filed a class action lawsuit Silva versus Levi,

(12:04):
arguing that the immigrant visa numbers given to Cuban refugees
had been done without lawful authority, limiting spots that otherwise
could be available for immigrants of other Western Hemisphere countries.
Mr Feartag successfully argued the case. Here he is describing
that day that was the magic day the Immigration Service

(12:28):
and somebody from Washington to argue for the government. I
argued for our side, and it went on for an hour,
and it was like watching someone on a chapeese because
the judge would ask questions that an answer is swing
this way, swing that way, anyway. Bottom line is at

(12:49):
the end of it, he said, motion for temporary standing
order is granted. We then draft an order which includes
a provision that everybody in the class would be entitled
to the issuance by the Immigration Service of eight what

(13:10):
then became known as a silver letter, which essentially said,
this is the person with a ticket in line and
they are given permission to remain as long as you
know this injunction is in existence and they have employment authorization. Essentially,

(13:31):
anyone who was in line by the end of ninety
six could get a notice known as the silver letters,
giving them the right to be here and to work
while the complex legal case worked its way through the courts.
And then of course it meant that families were protected,
you know, the kids and the spouse. That's the person

(13:52):
who was vulnerable was the worker and he had work
authorization now or she had work authorization now, and the
immediate family remain. Those silver letters expired in November of
both Marcella's mother and father no longer had the protection
the letters had offered them. Marcella's first ten years of

(14:15):
her life when a little something like this, she went
from living in the shadows to having one foot in
the shadows and the other foot tasting a little bit
of freedom with the silver letters, to then be thrown
back into the shadows all over again when those silver
letters expired for her parents. And I just remember that
and that, I remember my mom always praying and always

(14:37):
say no, you know, hopefully they don't kick us out
or thinking parted off something, you know, say. She was
always worried about that. Many times, when I see my
two children, Alexander and Olie, I think of how lucky
they are to go to bed every night without being
afraid of tomorrow. I remind them that when I was

(15:00):
just a toddler, I crossed the border with my parents.
I tell them that at their age, I get home
from school, fire up a pan and make my brother
Stacos the bacon because we were just starving. I end
up sounding like my mother and my kids. They asked questions,

(15:21):
was grandma scale, what was grandpa? Are you a baby Mama,
Grandma had then how did they find you? But to them,
these are just stories that happened once upon a time.
To them, these stories I now tell are not any
different than reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Her privilege
Mazilla and I did not have because we had to

(15:44):
grow up fast. We had to learn to carry the
weight our parents carried. I think, what what I remember,
like I said, dizzily, with my dad and his job.
But it was also like remember like them always worried
about the paperwork, like there, you know, they get stopped,

(16:04):
they're still security, They're all that. We didn't have any
of that. So my parents were always extra careful as
far as following the traffic laws, paying their taxes, all
of that. I remember them always talking about that stuff
and how they just you know, followed them to the
law because they didn't want to stand out. They didn't
want to call any attention to themselves, and which kind

(16:25):
of like led me to be that way as far
as like in school, like it it made me want
to do better in school and not stand out and
be bad or not to not to rock the boat
in any way because it was always scary like that.
We would be somehow found out that it was my parents,
you know, that had to had to struggle and to
you know, carry that burden of not being documented. You know,

(16:49):
Marcella's worst fear wasn't so much her getting deported. For
some reason. I was thought, well, we didn't have to leave,
but my siblings would have to stay here, and who
are they gonna stay with? You know. I remember thinking like, well,
me and my sister are gonna have to go back
because we're the Mexico. But you know, my other sisters
are not, and my brothers not. That they're gonna have
to stay here, and that means we're not gonna be
able to see them. I used to be afraid and

(17:11):
I was like, oh god, we're gonna get separated because
they belonged to America, we belong to Mexico. The weight
is so heavy. It's so heavy that it trickles on children,
you know, and like you said it, like your parents,
we're trying to be discreet, but nonetheless, you think the
oldest and at that age you're curious and inquisitive, and

(17:32):
do you hear things like kids are really smart and
they hear everything. You think. Kids are not listening but
they are. Marcella will sit with her mother as she
watched the news, so afraid that her dad may not
walk in through their door that night. She will pull
apart her mom's prayers and realize something that I find odd.

(17:55):
Her mother was including President Reagan and her prayers. My mom, Um,
she would always tell us to pray for the president
because you know, Um, we may have an opportunity. You know,
to to to to do this. You know, she had
to get this, this big opportunity. Marcella was now on
the mission. She had to find a way to get

(18:15):
a hold of the only person that can help her family.
So she did what any ten year old would do.
Out of the shadows will be right back now, back
to the show. I remember that there was a teacher

(18:41):
in school. This wasn't She was a an lingual teacher,
and I remember talking to her about it, and I
asked her, how do you get ahold of the president?
How how can you talk to the president? And because
that kids right to the president all the time acting
this because you wanted to get a hold of the presidency.
I wanted to get a hold of somebody. And my

(19:01):
mom told me that the pregnant is the only one
that can make this decision. To me, it was like, okay, well,
let me talk to the president. I thought it was
just as simple as you know, let me come up.
And I remember talking to missus Vana and she told me, yeah,
you can write to the president. And it was kind
of like it was so non salant, is what I'm

(19:22):
trying to say, Like I didn't. I think it was
like writing to the president was just like like nothing,
like like writing to your grandma. So in January, Marcella
writes a letter addressed to President Reagan. In the letter,
she attaches to honors letters signed by her school principle,
along with the newspaper clipping of the photo of her
participation and win at the Peach Blossom Festival. Ten year

(19:47):
old Marcella wanted to prove to the president that her
family deserved to be American. In the timing of this letter,
I also find fascinating Reagan just marked his one year
in office. Two was also the year when the first
draft of the immigration bill was introduced to Congress, and

(20:09):
it was also the year Congress chose for irka's cut
off date immigrants arriving after January one. Two. We're not
eligible to apply, And the fact that out of all
the letters Reagan received during his presidency, this is one
he saved. Idea this letter existendential. Now I don't. I mean,

(20:32):
I remember the letter now, but I'm like I said, yeah,
I don't. I guess I pushed that letter back into
the back of my mind. It makes sense that Marcella
doesn't remember writing this letter, just as it makes sense
for me growing up gradually suppressing my own memories of
crossing the border with my parents, or suppressing the fear
of immigrant raids. Being a child of immigrants, whether born

(20:55):
here or not, does not exempt us from the fear.
The fear we oppressed to survive, And just like Marcella's
parents are, immigrant parents go above and beyond to try
and make our lives as normal as possible, even when
they are carrying their own pain. Like that beautiful quote

(21:17):
by Damian Leone, immigrant parents with their wings cut still
teach their children to fly. My parents did such a
good job of shielding us from a lot of it,
not in a way that like made us forget or

(21:37):
take programmed what it was. It was more of like
protecting us um from like the bad part of it.
I guess it was. But they play instilled in us
like be grateful for what we have, be grateful that
we get to be here and that we get to
well whatever we have, like I remember it like to
this day, like I don't. I don't ever remember thinking

(21:59):
I was poor. You know, we lived in the projects
in Sorry, I don't remember ever feeling poor. My parents
have always did touch a great job. And she'll beam
as from all that. Like I tell you, the only
reason I knew it because I was nosy and I
stayed up late that by listening to their conversations. You're
a part of history. You don't even and you don't
even know it. No, really I know, and I'm kind

(22:22):
of embarrassed because I'm my god, I took so much
for granted. No, I wouldn't say it's for granted. I
would say maybe you suppressed a lot of these feelings
because filled with fear. Right now you're laughing because you
know it's it's it's almost like little still, you know,
Penio gar asking, you know, how can I get a
hold of President? But I'm sure Tim you old Marcella,
we'll kind of make it a way. Yeah, too, had

(22:44):
a mission too, for you have the courage to to
write this letter, because still this fear that you had,
you know, and me, I'm sure little Marcella was really scared.
In Marcella's family received legal residency. And I remember my

(23:05):
dad saying, you know, pray God, like we've been praying
for this, and we've been it's been so long coming.
And I remember it's even the people from church we
used to have us. My dads have a best friend,
another pastor friend of his and and he and I
remember my dad calling him and telling them that we
got it, and everybody was just happy. It just changed
the mood of my parents, like and I think by

(23:26):
that time, that's when my mom was like, oh, well
now I can get a job, like start working and helping.
And it just changed the whole the whole vibe, the
whole environment. So what happened to Marcella a lot. And
you know, it's funny. In high school and my sister
when we remember like we had a resident Alien cards.

(23:48):
And I was another thing too, because your friends carry
around their social securities, their ideas and everything, and we
had to carry around our resident Asian card and and
all that stuff. And and back then you with It's
kind of was an embarrassing thing. I guess it was
for us because you're like, there was a stigma behind
all that you're legal, you're illegal even though you're Mexican,

(24:09):
and just like your other friend was Mexican, but the
fact that you were born in Mexico and not born
to California, you were different. You just felt like you
had that stamp on your back. And I always thought that,
always thought that until the day I became a citizen,
and then after that it was just like, Okay, I'm
like everybody else. And um, I've been married now for

(24:31):
thirty years, which and then I have I have two kids,
I have two grandkids and one on the way. I
have a master's degree in health administration and I worked
for a three hospital system here in Presido, California. I'm
a finance manager, so I manage um of wh I

(24:51):
started managing a program and I manage a department that
saves our hospital about fifty million a year, which in
turn helps programs for indigent people, like because our hospital
is like a it's a safety net hospital, so we
use those savings to help people without insurance, people without document,

(25:13):
you know, without deep immigrants that don't have insurance, or
that comes to our hospital seeking medical care and don't
have a way to pay for it. This program saved
dollars that are used to pay for for for this
stuff like that. So I come full circle. Do you
think little Martella m would have believed this? I don't know,

(25:38):
you know what I have left and I'm like, I
don't want to cry. But honestly, I was blessed with
two parents that I believed. Hey, first of all, believe
the God and believed in the American system. They believed
in it to this day, like my parents are or

(25:58):
my dad passed away, now my mom. I mean, they
believed in democracy, they believe in America. They followed the laws,
you know, And I think that that I think back
then writing that letter, even though I was a kid,
I believed. I believe that it would make a difference.

(26:21):
Like I really did. I believe that, Hey, I'm gonna
right to the president. He why not, Like he's gonna listen,
you know, he he has an office. He's gonna open
my letter. He's gonna listen. I think part of me
always believed that it could it could be. But that's
thanks to the way I was raised and the way

(26:41):
my parents believed. Wow, Kelly was talking to you, that's like,
I mean, wow, that's just amazing, Like you don't know how,
you don't know like how this has made my week,
my my year. Probably what do you think of her?
M A. Regan? You know what? Honestly, besides Um Carter,

(27:05):
he was my favorite. And it's funny because I'm not
a I'm not a Republican, I'm not a Democrat. I'm
I'm out not a liberal. I'm an independent. I have
my own thoughts, I have my own beliefs and everything.
And Ronald Reagan was actually one of my favorite presidents
and I just still like, you know, he did a
lot for for the for America, and he did a

(27:29):
lot he I mean, he's set the president with this
honesty program and that I believe that's a lot of people. Now,
you know, there's always the bad, and honestly, it's it's
shameful sometimes to to to hear that some people would
take that opportunity and just wasted. But at the same time,

(27:52):
it's like, you know, we're human and we had we
got we have an opportunity, and everybody, whether you're born
here or you're not. We all have the same opportunity
and you just have to take it and that this
this made it so much easier for our family and
for me definitely, I have the opportunity that I've had.
Your ten year old son should be very proud. I am,

(28:13):
you know, And like I said, this came just right
on time, like just this is amazing. I would love
to chat with you more. Yeah, but renouncing my have
take my fun to stop her. I mean, I'm not,
but I I just want to say that it was
It was an honor to have an able to trying you.

(28:35):
Thank you. I'm grateful if you can help us. I
promised to study hard and become a good sis and
never forget you in my price. I appreciate all the
time you put into reading my letters. Thank you very much, Sincerely, yours,
Sella Sanchez. In talking to Marcella, I wasn't able to

(28:57):
prove with a hundred percent certainty that her letter convinced
Reagan to sign URCA. That doesn't matter anymore as much
as the proof of the resilience of first generation children,
which is fully illustrated in a letter written in two
by a ten year old Mexican American girl in realizing
that she does not remember writing this letter to Reagan

(29:19):
In Marcella has lived the last forty years unaware that
she may have had something to do with the events
leading to the signing of URCA in eighty six. She
lived unaware that in the courage she found to protect
her family, she protected mine too. That next time on

(29:57):
Out of the Shadows, Children of eighty six, we'll take
a look at what it was actually like to apply
for Erica. You'll hear from the people who were on
the ground helping folks apply. Folks were like, I'm not
going to be the first. I'm not going to be
the person. The experiment on the amnesty was clearly a
good thing. We'll break down Erica finally going into effect

(30:18):
and the scramble for proof to qualify all that and
more on the next episode of Out of the Shadows.
If you love this podcast, please help us get the
word out by following, rating, reviewing, and sharing it with
your friends. Out of the Shadows is written by Caesar Hernandez.

(30:41):
It's also written, edited, posted, an executive produced by Patti
Rodriguez and Eric G. Lindo. It's produced by Bett Cardanas,
Karen Lopez and Gabby Watts. It's sound design mixed and
mastered by Jesse Nice Wander. Our studio engineer is Clay
Hill and Burn. Karen Garcia That's Me is our announcer.

(31:04):
Out of the Shadows is the production of Seeing the
Other Productions and School of Humans in partnership with My
Heart's Michael Dura podcast Network. The podcast is also executive
produced by Giselle Bantes, Virginian Prescott, Brandon Barr, and Chad Crowley.
Our marketing and our team is led by Jasmine Meheia.

(31:26):
Original music by a Arenas and if you loved his
cover of Los Caminos la vida this podcast theme song,
you can listen to it on all music platforms. Historical
audio for Out of the Shadows comes from the Reagan
Presidential Library and the National Archives. Special thanks to Ian Bargas,

(31:48):
Alex and Ali, Caitlin Becker, gob Chabran, Daisy Church, Angel Lopez, Galindo,
Julianna Gamiz, Ryan Gordon, Brian Matheson, Claudia Marti Corina, Oscar Ramidez,
John Rodriguez, Juan Rodriguez, Joshua Sandoval, Eric Sclar, Tony Sorrentino

(32:15):
and Megan Tana. This baby