Fuck you!

That would have been the extent of my letter 12 hours ago. I was so angry and afraid that my emotions got the best of me. Now with a little more time to digest this foul reality I will expand my letter:

Most of my life I have lived in a state of anger and fear. I’ll paint you a picture.

As a young man growing up was hard. Not only did I have to overcome the awkwardness and terror that comes with becoming a man; I also had to live in the shadows. You see, I was an undocumented immigrant. An “illegal” if you will.

My parents made the brave decision to come to the United States to flee a life of violence and despair. I am grateful to my parents every day for that decision. I was around 7 years old when it happened. I can remember it like it was yesterday. I didn’t really understand what an impact this would have in my life but I knew that it was important. Because of my lack of understanding, I lead a pretty great childhood. Sure I got made fun of because I couldn’t speak the language. Sure I felt a little different. But it didn’t matter because I was ignorant. I didn’t really understand my situation until I got into high school.

High school is a time in one’s life where you actually start thinking ahead. Where you start thinking about your future. You start thinking about what career you want to pursue. You start making plans about which college or university to attend. For me it was very different. I wanted to go to college; I wanted to work and find a satisfying career but I knew that I couldn’t. Because of my legal status it felt impossible to get where I wanted to be. I started fearing that no matter how hard I studied, no matter how hard I tried I would never achieve anything. Those feelings lead to anger. I felt so much anger. Anger that I have not felt in a very long time. Not until today. Yet I still pushed on. I graduated high school. I tried to apply at colleges but they didn’t accept me. They didn’t let me enroll because I was missing a simple piece of paper. But still I tried. I tried to get jobs here and there where I could find them. I tried to find a way to make money, not to go out and party or partake of drugs or rape women (like you seem to think we all do), but to provide for my family and all of their needs. Right then I saw the light.

In June of 2012, President Obama made available the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. DACA, as it’s well known, allows certain undocumented immigrants to receive a renewable two-year work permit and exemption from deportation. This changed my life. I was finally able to pursue my dreams! I no longer had to live in the shadows! I could contribute to the country that had given me so much. Because of my diligence and perseverance in finishing high school and because I had lived like a good “citizen”, I was eligible for DACA. I did not hesitate to get my work permit.

I started working as soon as I could. I didn’t care what job it was, as long as it could help me provide for my family. I worked so hard. I also started studying. Because of my circumstances I was still not able to attend college with in-state tuition so it made it difficult for me to enroll. I did try though. A person dear to my heart, suggested that I start learning how to code. I did. I loved it. It gave me the same thrill and excitement that I experienced while playing video games. As I was in this transition, I started dating a girl that would ultimately choose to be my wife. After a couple of years of studying computer programming on my own, I landed a dream job. I started working for one of the biggest startups in my state. Around that time, my wife and I had a beautiful baby boy. Because of my new job, I was able to afford a home for my little family. I had everything going for me.

I lived in that heaven for about 4 years, until yesterday. It all started to crumble down as I saw your name ahead of Secretary Clinton. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. I went to sleep, hoping for a miracle but it never came. I woke up this morning to the sad reality that you had won the electorate. I tried to do my normal routine. I tried to go to work and forget about it but I couldn’t. That’s when I started feeling that long forgotten anger. The anger which has spread from the fear of losing all that I have worked so hard for my entire life.

In your “contract” to your supporters you state that you will “cancel every unconstitutional executive action memorandum issued by President Obama” and you will “begin removing the more than 2 million criminal illegal immigrants from the country”. This is where my fear stems from: you give no real definition of what executive actions you deem unconstitutional or what the definition of what a “criminal illegal immigrant” is. Am I a criminal for coming into this country illegally? Do you deem DACA unconstitutional? These are the questions that are keeping me up tonight. Will I have a future in this country which I deeply love?

Now do you understand why there are so many people out in the streets protesting your election? They, like me, are afraid of the answers to these and other questions about your policies. They are afraid that they are no longer accepted in their country. They feel that because of the things you have said and because of your election into office, they are not wanted in this country which they deeply love.

You have shown no courtesy or respect to us so I will show no courtesy or respect to you.

So FUCK YOU!