Opinion editor's note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes a mix of national and local commentaries online and in print each day. To contribute, click here . ••• I am a citizen of the United States, born and raised in Minnesota, and the mother of a U.
S. citizen. For nearly two decades, I have been married to a wonderful man and we have created a great life together in Minnesota, my home state and his adopted home.
Unless you know us personally, you'd never guess the level of stress and fear we've dealt with on a daily basis due to the very real possibility that my husband could be forced to leave the country and be separated from his family at any time because of his undocumented immigration status. Yet, the chronic stress of knowing this could happen is real, and it has affected every part of our lives. Despite filing taxes jointly as a married couple for the past 17 years, we can rely only on my income when applying for loans.
Our son, who has gone with me to vote in every election since he was born and traveled with me to Washington, D.C., to advocate so "Papi can get a passport," shows signs of separation anxiety and fear over the possibility that Papi could be taken away from us.
And I cannot list my husband as a life insurance beneficiary because he does not have a Social Security number. Over the past two years, I participated in several events in Washington at which I urged both Congress and President Joe Biden to fix the broken immigration system in the United State.