When “Esperanza” turned 16, she did what many Federal Way teenagers do and told her parents she wanted to get a job.

To her surprise, they told her that would be impossible.

Esperanza’s parents were not being controlling. Instead, they shared information they had protected her from until she was old enough to understand: Esperanza was not a citizen. She had been brought into the United States from Mexico when she was just 6 months old.

“I felt confused, I wouldn’t say angry. I understood why they did it, but I just felt like, helpless, hopeless, like, there was nothing I could do and I just had to deal with it,” Esperanza told the Mirror. She asked that her real name not be used out of fear for her safety.

Now at age 30, she still lives in Federal Way. Like other immigrants with a comp

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