Before I could read or write, some might say I had broken the law. I was an undocumented immigrant. My parents had come to the US when I was a baby and overstayed their time on a visitors’ visa. I lived like any other American kid, but I didn’t have permission to be here. When I was six, my grandfather died in Argentina, my parents’ home country. After an anguished debate, my parents decided my mom and I should go to be with family during the difficult time. But our record of having overstayed a visitors’ visa made getting another one impossible, and our intended two-week trip turned into nearly two years.

Finally, as a last resort, my dad connected with some coyotes, or people smugglers, who said they could arrange to cross us over the US/Mexico border. They took us to a dilapidated shack on a dirt road. Inside, there was just a mattress on the floor, bare rustic cupboards, no running water, and no bathroom. There was an outhouse – the first one I’d ever seen – buzzing with fat flies and a smell I’ll never forget.

“They’ll come for you soon,” they told us. I thought they meant that night. They didn’t. We spent the night alone, my mother reading from an old novel someone had left strewn on the floor until it was too dark to read. Then, she put her purse down on the mattress so I wouldn’t have to rest my face on the unrecognizable stains.

The days passed. They argued about how to get us into the US. My mother offered to walk in the desert, but they said no. They suggested they could smuggle us in the trunk of a car, but my mother’s fear of small spaces put an end to that plan.

Finally, they took us to the Mexican side of the beach next to San Diego. An American man came over and acted like we were his family. He walked us over to a car on the US side. Ten years after that day, an amnesty law put me on a path to citizenship. I spent many years wondering why I wasn’t good enough to belong here when this was the only place I ever wanted to call home, this country with its many gifts and wonders. It was hard, but it was worth it.