'My dream is in another country': Woman willingly leaves United States after 20+ years in Fresno

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- One suitcase and a carry-on.

Inside: lone items with sentimental worth and a fewer essentials to commencement a caller life.

After 21 years successful the United States, Patricia Topete Vazquez is going backmost to wherever she came.

"My imagination was to beryllium successful the US, and now, my imagination is successful different country," she said.

It was a large determination for Patricia to permission the lone state she had known since she was a small girl.

Last November, aft Donald Trump was re-elected president, Patricia began to envision her beingness extracurricular the U.S.

Earlier this year, she made the prime to leave, connected her ain terms.

"I americium a precise competitory idiosyncratic and professional, and I bash judge that the dreams I person for myself, I don't conscionable get to execute them here," she said. "I deliberation I person the assurance successful myself present that these dreams tin beryllium achieved anywhere, portion besides having the state to transverse borders without fear, without uncertainty."

Fear is what brought her to the US from her tiny municipality successful Tamaulipas, Mexico, erstwhile she was 12 years old.

Her parent enactment her connected a level to Fresno to unrecorded with relatives aft learning she'd been molested by an uncle.

"I was experiencing intersexual maltreatment arsenic a kid that was happening from a household member, and that was happening successful my home, and I didn't spot a antithetic mode of staying successful my location successful Mexico and feeling safe," Patricia said.

That information besides brought guilt for precise young Patricia, who was fleeing Mexico alone, without her small member and sister.

Patricia turned her vigor and absorption to academics. Her precocious schoolhouse teacher, Kristen Norton, describes her arsenic determined and resilient.

"She (Patricia) came to maine and said, 'I privation to instrumentality your English people due to the fact that you are the hardest teacher. Sign maine up.' I mean, that's the benignant of pupil she was. That's however she pushed herself. She was ever looking to find the edges and boundaries of herself," Norton said.

That thrust and tenacity paid off. Patricia graduated arsenic people valedictorian from McClane High School and acceptable her sights connected college.

"Throughout my beingness increasing up, I was reminded that I was undocumented and individuals similar maine did not spell to college," she said. "I was perpetually reminded that it was precise hard, that my parent successful Mexico did not person money, and I was reminded that students similar maine did not person fiscal aid. Knowing that astatine 15, I said to myself that I request to travel up with a superb program then."

"That was benignant of my instauration to the struggles that undocumented students faced," Norton said. "She had done each this work, she was the valedictorian, she had done each the sports and each the extracurriculars. Everything you are expected to bash times ten, she had done to beryllium capable to spell to immoderate schoolhouse she wants to, and determination was lone 1 choice."

Her lone enactment was getting a backstage scholarship, truthful she applied to much than 40 and won a afloat thrust to Fresno Pacific University.

She made other wealth by cleaning houses during summertime break. When she had to permission the dorms, she crashed connected friend's couches and worked successful the fields picking strawberries.

"The farmworker women successful Salinas who were determination making hourly wages to assistance their children, and their families conscionable took maine successful and were consenting to springiness immoderate of their ain harvest due to the fact that they wanted maine to beryllium capable to decorativeness school, wage for books, and wage for school," she said.

After graduating college, Patricia was yet capable to get a enactment licence done the "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals," known arsenic DACA. The argumentation offers extortion from deportation to eligible undocumented immigrants who arrived successful the US arsenic children. It does not connection a way to ineligible residency and indispensable beryllium renewed each 2 years.

Patricia has been recognized and awarded galore times for her nonrecreational successes and assemblage leadership.

She was appointed by governors Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom to statewide positions, and up until 2 weeks ago, she was the determination vice president of assemblage relations astatine Citibank, teaching fiscal literacy to radical successful agrarian communities.

Patricia's past mates of months person been spent saying goodbye to the galore friends she made successful the past 2 decades.

She's been selling disconnected those erstwhile indispensable belongings that made her location that harmless abstraction she had ever longed for.

We asked Patricia what the infinitesimal volition beryllium similar connected the level erstwhile she sees the US vanish from presumption and she yet lands successful Mexico, nary longer a frightened small girl.

"I deliberation it's going to beryllium some beauteous and painful, and I'm acceptable for both," she said.

Patricia near Fresno conscionable a fewer days ago. She saw her parent for the archetypal clip aft 20 years.

In a mates of weeks, she volition beryllium attending her younger sister's graduation successful person, thing she ne'er imagined she'd beryllium capable to do.

By the extremity of summer, she moves to Spain, wherever she has already been accepted to the master's programme for planetary concern and planetary absorption astatine the University of Madrid.

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