My mother used to tell me, when I was a child, as I gazed out the glass window of the yellow buses used as public transportation in Honduras, that if I looked carefully at the fast-moving forest landscapes—flashing by in images according to the speed of the bus—I might see the lost boy who played with animals in the woods.

I would always sit quietly, trying to find him. I never saw him physically, but my imagination created him for me, and I could feel how lost he might feel; yet, at the same time, I imagined how Mother Nature had adopted him as her child and offered him refuge. So, the final image was not that of a lost boy, but of a human being finding himself in his own nature, recognizing that this Earth is his home and that he will always find refuge in it.

As we begin to perceive the environment that surrounds us, we also become capable of recognizing its advantages and disadvantages within the system we are part of. It is natural for our thinking mind to seek better living conditions that allow us to develop our potential and give us the necessary tools for the self-expression of the realities we wish to experience. But in the reality shaped by the ego—with its separation of thought and its hunger for control by dividing groups of thinkers into countries, societies, and systems—comes an unattainable search for defining what life is, how it should be lived, how it should be governed. All these rules and laws have created divisions: between nations, peoples, languages, races, preferences, and so on. Humanity has faced the challenge of continuing to survive, even when the knowledge of how to nourish our bodies and meet our basic needs has long existed. Life has now become a survival struggle of the mind—due to these constructs, borders, and rules that have failed to create collective consciousness, but instead have led to extreme division ruled by politics.

To exist on this planet is, therefore, a profoundly absurd complexity caused by a lack of awareness. As we navigate the human experience, with all that our hearts desire to achieve and explore, we face countless decisions and consequences. And when it becomes evident that a country’s control is designed to benefit only a few, many people are forced to make the difficult decision to seek better living conditions elsewhere—where corruption is not so shameless, and where, at the very least, the dignity of human survival is respected. Many are willing to pay the price to exist in such realities: exchanging hard work for money, trading their time for the official currency. That is the reality we humans live in today.

When you intentionally take a moment to breathe calmly and observe your thoughts, I ask you to begin separating the meaning of your life from any country you belong to, any last name you carry, any society, any wealth you possess, any religion or educational system you were raised in. Close your eyes and strip yourself of all those imposed concepts and ideas. Begin to observe yourself for the first time from what your heart feels, from what you find beautiful, from what inspires you, from what you truly want to learn and experience. That is when you will truly see yourself, because no one knows you better than you. You are the witness and guardian of your own memory, of who you really are and what you wish to become.

In that self-awareness, think about what is best for you. Never feel ashamed of leaving your country or any place in search of happiness, in pursuit of your dreams, or in search of a life with purpose. That is the true journey of your life: where you are the captain of your own ship. And call that guiding force however you wish—it is invisible but always present. Personally, I call it God.

I know that when we live authentically as ourselves, it often feels like the external world turns against us—because the unknown always triggers uncertainty, anxiety, and a deep, primal fear of what awaits on the other side of our decisions. But when we move forward despite those feelings, we cross an invisible energetic bridge that opens the path to transformation and evolution. This is purely internal knowledge that only you hold; only you know everything you’ve gone through to arrive where you are now. Each decision, each step, each process of understanding ourselves and the world we live in, is a step into the darkness we gradually transform into light—because we illuminate our being when our decisions are guided by honesty, love, good intentions, and the pure desire for the fulfillment of our happiness.

And if your existence is being born from that place, wherever you go and whatever you do becomes a celebration of life itself and gratitude for being alive. You deserve every good opportunity, every good friend, every beautiful place, and all the love that exists to give, receive, and feel. I absolutely embrace you in that space where time and the structure we call “space” do not exist, so that you may overcome any adversity and keep crossing bridges and borders toward the transformation and evolution of your being.

For Latin Americans, the United States is seen as a beacon of light—a system that works when compared to the broken systems of Latin America after colonization and the near-complete loss of identity. The United States represents a meeting ground for human beings from all parts of the world, a land of freedom where diverse ways of thinking find space, integrate, and coexist daily. Every person has a personal story to tell, and self-improvement becomes like a loaded weapon pointing at your head every day—because that is the reason many of us come here.

We have love within our families, beauty in our paradise-like landscapes, diverse tropical climates in our lands; our human bodies are designed to adapt to all of it. But we don’t have functioning systems. We lack safety for those of us who choose to do good. We don’t have access to quality education. We don’t have fair healthcare systems. We don’t even have a reality that allows us to simply be ourselves. In the United States, many of us have found that by exchanging hard work, we at least enter systems that free us from constant survival mode. And the United States finds in dreamers the workforce it needs to sustain its experimental structures and progress—whatever that progress may be.

Every story is important. Your story matters and holds value for the growth, protection, and evolution of our human race. I remember one of my Uber rides last year, while a driver was taking me to an informal meeting with my work colleagues. I had just finished a contract as a media specialist for Univision in Denver, Colorado, at the end of November. In the first weeks of December, before my trip to Mexico, four of my colleagues organized a lunch for me in the city.

That morning, I had gotten up early to try making a traditional Honduran recipe at my partner’s home at the time—who had just bought and moved into a new house in Denver. The recipe, called baleadas, was a failure due to my rush and my desire to do it quickly. Now I know every recipe needs its time, focus, and love to turn out well. Still, with flour still sticking to my skin, I headed out to meet my colleagues. The man, carrying his own immigrant story from Africa, shared that he had obtained his U.S. residency through a lottery and spent most of the year working here, returning to his family for a couple of months. Thanks to his work in the U.S., he could provide his children with a quality education and a better future for generations to come.

Isn’t that how we evolve? By striving to create better versions of ourselves through our life stories and for future generations? Isn’t that the story of our human development? Then why should anyone feel ashamed or be discriminated against for seeking to improve their lives and create better opportunities for themselves and their families? Every story deserves to be told. Every story deserves to be lived. You deserve to live and create your story in the way your soul needs and wishes to express itself. And I wish for you, as I do for myself every day, to always choose to do good—even when it feels like the world is against us.

These are times of great pressure and harassment toward immigrants. It seems that the personal preferences of a leader and those who elected him democratically weigh heavier than even human rights themselves. It’s important to know your rights if you do not currently have legal immigration status in the United States.

Your access to information must come from official U.S. government sources, like USCIS, and not from the media or sensationalist platforms. I know that discernment is a challenge nowadays because of so much misinformation and uncontrollable social media. But remember that even in this era of information and disinformation through the internet, you have the power to discern. Always consult official pages. The information I will share below comes directly from USCIS, updated to this year, 2025. And I encourage you to verify it directly on their official website.

Basic Rights for Undocumented People in the U.S.:

• DACA (for certain youth who arrived as minors).

Fundamental Constitutional Rights (protection under the U.S. Constitution):

• The right to remain silent (5th Amendment).
• The right to not be subject to arbitrary searches or detentions (4th Amendment).
• The right to due process.
• The right to legal representation (though not government-funded in immigration cases).
• The right to not be discriminated against based on race, nationality, religion, gender, etc.

Emergency medical care:

• Under EMTALA law, hospitals are obligated to provide emergency medical care regardless of immigration status.

Public education K-12:

• Under the Supreme Court ruling Plyler v. Doe (1982), undocumented children have the right to free public education from kindergarten through 12th grade.

Limited labor rights:

• The right to be paid for work performed (even if the employer violated the law by hiring them).
• The right to safe working conditions (OSHA).
• The right to file claims for unpaid wages.

Protection from abuse or exploitation:

• Laws protecting against domestic violence, child abuse, human trafficking, workplace discrimination, etc.

Protection under certain immigration programs:

• Some may be eligible for:
  • Asylum
  • Temporary Protected Status (TPS)
  • U Visa (for crime victims)
  • VAWA (for domestic violence victims)

Migrant brother of our shared human race, migrant brother in the decisions we’ve made to leave our homelands, migrant brother of our brave spirit in seeking better life scenarios for the story of our lives:

Migrant brother—know your rights. I send you much love, much good energy, much courage, and I hope that this country, like every country in the world, may find balance within its systems; that its processes may become just and respectful of our human rights. And that each one of us may also find understanding and respect for the laws of both our home countries and the nations we choose to move to. Because migration is a biological and natural process for human beings, and there will always be legal pathways—since every country is, and must be, conscious of this reality.

Written by kafme