Julio Hernandez

The 29-year-old undocumented immigrant from Mexico City crossed the border illegally more than 10 years ago. He now lives with family in Atlanta. Hernandez is not his real name.

We arrive with many expectations, but when we get here we hit a wall. I came alone and didn't have friends or family here. I just decided one day to come. When I arrived, I lived on the streets, slept under a bridge, would search through the McDonald's (MCD) trash for food. The first years were tough. The third year, I started making a little money.

[Now] many people are closing their doors to immigrants. In fact, I had a similar experience. I worked for six months, 18 hours a day, painting, doing a job by myself that would take three people to do together. I was seen as a good worker. But the company fell on bad times. Then, when they reestablished it, they called me. But after a week they fired me for lack of proper documentation.

I [also] had my own car shop. I worked years to build this business and to get to where I was. My pay was approximately $500 per week. It was a good job, but to get there it took me working day and night for three years. [Then in April] five of us were shot outside my brother's house by someone we had never seen. Since then the only thing I have gotten are more problems, bad experiences, suffering, poor attention, debts, losses.

It's difficult [to find work]. Many [immigrants] don't take the risk of leaving a job to find another one tomorrow. Companies need to take care of themselves. Even so, many people treat their employees poorly, cut their salaries, and push them to do more work than they should. Lately, there have been some raids here nearby and they have been deporting many people. Just a few days ago they raided a lady's house here and in less than 12 hours they reported her to immigration.

Yes, the situation is hard. Many of us had all of our hopes in that [immigration reform bill]. To be able to get a work permit, to be able to travel to our countries to see our families, to be able to get a driver's license. We work for months to be able to collect some money to help our families. Our hope is to be able to go and visit them or make some money to bring them here. But all of that is gone. Doors are closing, so people are leaving. The companies that would help people obtain driver's licenses are no longer working. Many people are giving away their cars and leaving everything behind. It's very difficult to know what is going to happen to us. Here in this trailer park there are 300 people. Twenty-two trailers are empty because people have gone back to their countries. But I'll say it over and over again: We would rather live with a little bit of fear in this country than with many needs in our country. [I came here] for a better life. To try to get ahead. To be somebody. Because in my country, it is very difficult to have a good home and to provide your family with opportunities.