First and foremost, Claudia Garcia is a mother.
Like most mothers, she would do anything for her daughter Natalia, who was born with a hearing impairment.
Claudia (not her real name) is also an undocumented immigrant.
In 2013, she left her home of San Luis Potosí, Mexico with a then 2-year-old Natalia (also not her real name) to search for better medical resources and a better future.
Her journey to the U.S. was one filled with countless perils. She was kept at a stash house near the border; She was threatened by her smugglers; She was constantly separated from her daughter.
In the end, Claudia was able to reunite with her daughter and husband to make a home in Houston. Now in the U.S., Claudia had to learn to navigate through the health care system and advocate for her daughter’s health.
Elizabeth Farfán-Santos, a medical anthropologist, spent 5 years with Claudia after first meeting her at a community clinic in Houston.
She wrote about Claudia’s immigration story in her book “Undocumented Motherhood: Conversations on Love, Trauma, and Border Crossing.”
“One of the things I write about … is the courage that it takes for women to be constantly interacting with the public health system,” she said. “They do this for their children.”
Farfán-Santos realized Claudia’s story intertwined with that of her own mother — another woman who was affected by migration.
Farfán-Santos says her book details what thousands of immigrant mothers face as result of the migration process.
“It was really important for me to blend these stories … because the U.S.-Mexico border really forms and deforms Latinos families across both borders,” she said.
Listen to the second part of the conversation with Farfán-Santos on Dec. 2.
