Mr. President,
During your tenure, you maintained a vested interest in both immigration and health care. I sincerely hope that your stance on these issues will result in you reading this letter in its entirety.
I work at a breakfast restaurant in Bloomington, IN. Our head cook, Roberto, came to the US illegally when he was fourteen. He climbed a wall and then ran for three miles straight to cross the border. In the group of people that he crossed with, there was a woman with a two year old child that she could not carry during the run, so he carried that child, while he ran, for three miles. He started working at our restaurant, legally, when he was seventeen. He is now twenty-four, and he has worked seven days a week during the interim. I have never met anyone with a work ethic to match Roberto’s, and I cannot understand why anyone would consider him to be less than an asset to our country.
Roberto has a six year old son named Diego, who unfortunately, likes basketball and music much more than soccer. He did not marry his wife, Kayla, until last year, because she was able to qualify for Medicaid as a single mother. However, his green card expired several months ago, and President Trump’s stance on DACA, which Roberto has spent roughly $15,000 navigating, convinced them to get married. Once they were married, Kayla and Diego were kicked off of Medicaid. They have reapplied several times.
For the past few weeks, Kayla has been complaining about headaches and blurred vision. Since she has no insurance, she went to the emergency room. $2,000 and five hours later, they told her that she was dehydrated. Her coworkers convinced her to go back a few days later and ask for an MRI. On Tuesday night, she was diagnosed with a massive brain tumor behind her eye.
Kayla is having a five hour surgery on July 6, which has a 50% percent success rate. She has a six year old son and no health insurance. She is 23 years old.
Citizens who work this hard should not have to rely on GoFundMe for medical emergencies, and I sincerely ask you to personally take an interest. I have, in the last week, witnessed the most precariously placed people in this country donate money to this family, but we do not have enough. Sometimes it feels like we’re never going to have enough, and I am truly asking for your help.
Thank you,
Jen Watkins