TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — With President Trump working to end birthright citizenship, if it clears legal hurdles, the change could have a powerful impact on people in southern Arizona.
One local woman says if she hadn't been born here, her whole life would have been very different.
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Dulce Jimenez grew up on the border.
"I'm a Tucson local. My mom gave birth to me here in Tucson, but they lived in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico," she explained. "They brought me back to where they actually lived until I was around four years old. I did kindergarten there, and then we all moved back here to the US."
When she was 11 years old, everything changed. First, her father was deported. Then just a few months later, her mom and 19-year-old sister followed.
"We were on our way to school one morning, and my mom had her McDonald's shirt on because she was going to go to work right after, and we got pulled over by a cop. And so I was there when my sister and my mom got taken away," Jimenez recalled. "I just remember watching as my mom was like, begging the cop to please not call Border Patrol agents, and then the Border Patrol agent showing up."
Her sister was able to come back, and tried taking care of Jimenez and their other three siblings, who were born in the US, until they decided to move to Mexico.
"Since I was only 12 by that point, 12 or 13, that's when I would cross the border every day to go to school for a couple years," she explained.
Jimenez has never had trouble crossing to and from Mexico, because she's an American. But the border has continually kept her family away from big moments in her life.
"I got married, and my legal ceremony, obviously, they had to miss," Jimenez said. "And other things like graduations, like my mom has never been to any of my graduations from, like, eighth grade promotion forward. So I was really hoping that maybe this last one, because this is the last time that I'm gonna be in school. But it's not looking the best, I'm not very optimistic about the next several years."
Now, as a doctoral student at the U of A's College of Public Health, and a member of the South Tucson City Council, Jimenez says it's alarming to think about how different her life would be, if being born here hadn't made her a citizen.
"I'm exactly the type of person who wouldn't be here legally if that were to happen," she said. "And also thinking about all the people in my community and my family, my friends who are here legally, but don't have naturalized citizenship, there's other types of ways to be here legally. So, I do have a lot of concerns for them as well."
Claire Graham is an anchor and reporter for KGUN 9. She grew up in Tucson and graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in musical theatre. Claire spent a decade in Washington state, where she worked in journalism, met her husband and welcomed their baby boy, before moving back home. Share your story ideas and important issues with Claire by emailing claire.graham@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and X.
