Please vote NO to the Grassley 21 and 22 amendments.

Welcome to the Cruz Family website. My name is Emily Cruz and I am a US Citizen and member of American Families United who has been exiled to Mexico since 2010 due to the broken immigration laws in the United States. I am one of the many US Citizens who have been forced to either leave their country or separate their families. I hope that this website is eye opening for anyone who may not be familiar with the downfalls of the current immigration system.

My husband, a Mexican national, came to the United States at age 21 in a moment of desperation. He is the oldest child in his family, born in a poor mining town in central Chihuahua where the average hourly wage was under 50 cents an hour. He initially came with the desire to feed his family, but quickly fell in love with the idea of achieving the American Dream. He has always been a hard worker, and in the US, it seemed, that actually meant he could make something of himself. We met in 2005, which was a time in both of our lives when we were ready to establish a family and map out our futures. We married in 2007 having no idea of what was to come. I assumed that because I am a US Citizen, he would be granted permanent residency. I knew it wouldn't be easy, and I knew that there would be consequences for his entry, but never did I imagine that things would turn out as they did.

We attempted to "do things the right way" and right his wrongs, but shortly after filing the I-130, we learned that my husband would only be eligible to apply for legal status after he has spent 10 years outside the country. When we received the news in 2008, we were devastated. Our dreams were shattered. Our only choice was to leave my homeland, the country we both love with our every being, to try to begin a life in Mexico. We have financial obligations in the US (mainly student loans) that we refuse to abandon and were left with no choice but to find a city on the border so that I could continue to bring in a US income, sufficient enough to maintain our financial obligations.

I was able to find work in El Paso, Texas but this resulted in us having to move to Ciudad Juarez, one of the most violent cities in the world. It took less than 2 weeks (13 days to be exact) before I saw a dead body for the first time in my life. I can't even begin to account for all of the horrible things I have experienced since moving to Mexico. They are certainly things that I never would have been subjected to, had there not been such a need for immigration reform in the US.

I understand that there are consequences for the mistake that my husband made in coming to this country, but what mistake have I made? We don't have the luxury of choosing who we love in our lives. Why should I, and my family, have to suffer in exile, practically falling apart at the seams at times, because of the broken legal system in the United States? I understand that these bars were put in place to deter people from immigrating illegally, but the bars didn't work. They still don't work. The only thing they have been successful in doing is separating thousands of American families, just like mine. I am a proud American and feel betrayed by the idea of having to raise my children in a foreign land. I want them to be raised in the United States, with all of the opportunities and rights that they are entitled to as US Citizens.

We aren't expecting the US government to turn a blind eye. All we are asking for is one chance, and some consideration for the fact that he is an essential part of an American family that cannot thrive without his presence.

Please visit the How You Can Help page to see how you can help American Families United make some positive changes.