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‘This is My Home’ — Mexican-American Immigrants Laying Down Roots Down East

Jennifer Mitchell
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MPBN
Camalyne (from left) and Karla Mondragon, working at Down East Mexican Takeout in Gouldsboro.

One of the volatile political topics of 2016, not just in America but in Europe as well, is that of immigration and resettlement. Here at home, GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump has put Mexico at the center of his rhetoric, proposing a Berlin-style wall along the southern U.S. border.

In the first in a series aiming to capture the stories of Maine people who are directly affected by this debate over immigration — including migrant workers and their children — we meet a Down East Mexican-American family that’s trying lay down roots.

It’s a warm, sunny, Down East day. Route 1 is still busy with visitors bound for the Schoodic Peninsula. In a building just off the road, in true rural Maine fashion, a hair salon is housed in one half and a modest looking eatery in the other, simply advertising “Mexican Takeout.”

“She’s been going good,” says Peter Valencia, who with his wife Teresa has recently opened up the Down East Mexican Takeout in Gouldsboro, a town better known for its lobster rolls than its flautas. “People have been coming more and more all the time.”

But the couple is hoping the locals will develop a craving for their tacos, tortas, huarache and pambazo. As a fledgling business, the restaurant is in the tough trial period of its very first season, but Valencia and his wife say they really wanted to have their own business, to bring something new to the community.

He says some of the items on the menu are unfamiliar, and people often have to ask what it is and how to eat it.

“But they like it,” he says, “so that’s a good thing.”

Credit Jennifer Mitchell / MPBN
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MPBN
Down East Mexican Takeout in Gouldsboro.

Valencia was born in California but raised in Michoacan, Mexico, where he learned to cook by watching his mother, who would sometimes sell street food. He and Teresa have both done a variety of jobs, from picking nuts in California to fishing and making balsam wreaths.

Valencia has been in Maine for 16 years now, and like many Mexican-Americans, his family is scattered. Some are still in Mexico, some in California, others working farms in Georgia, and some are just pulling up in a big family car to give him a hand at the restaurant.

Karla Mondragon is 22 years old — she’s Peter’s cousin. A newlywed, she and Camalyne, a Mexican-American from Texas, have just celebrated their first wedding anniversary. And they have their young daughter with them, Madalyne, who they call Maddy for short.

Inside, another family member, Yesinia, is busy behind the counter, taking orders and getting ready for the lunchtime rush.

Credit Jennifer Mitchell / MPBN
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MPBN
Teresa Jungo (left) and Peter Valencia work at Down East Mexican Takeout in Gouldsboro.

Kids, cousins, weddings, a new family business — there’s nothing terribly unusual about any of it, except that the family’s foothold in the country is anything but firm.

Mondragon is seeking citizenship through her marriage to Camalyne. She is officially still a citizen of Mexico, and has been granted work permits because her parents brought her over as a child.

They had come to here to work at the now-closed Stinson Sardine Cannery when Mondragon was 10 years old. It was two years before she could speak English. Mondragon says, in those days, she was homesick for Mexico.

“I remember two classmates, who, one day I was looking up the Mexican flag, obviously because I missed it, and I missed everything about it, and I was looking up my city on the computer and they came up to me. I wasn’t sure what they were saying, all I knew is they were making fun of me,” she says.

Most of the people she met growing up Down East were welcoming, but she says she was bullied at times, and it steeled her to succeed. She learned English, made friends, played sports and took on a variety of Down East summer jobs, from processing sea cucumbers in Milbridge to picking lobster.

Credit Jennifer Mitchell / MPBN
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MPBN
Karla Mondragon (right) fills a take out order while Camalyne chops onions.

Her parents eventually decided to head back home to Michoacan. By that time, Mondragon was 18 and decided she wanted to put down her roots in Down East Maine. It was a tough decision, but one her parents supported, primarily because of her sexual identity.

“They think Maine, or America, is a lot more free, where you can speak what you think and be who you are, so they’re happy I’m here,” she says. “They think it’s the best decision I’ve made.”

But then, the political climate in the U.S. took a turn.

“They’re bringing drugs, they’re bring crime, they’re rapists, and some I assume are good people, but I speak to border guards and they tell us what we’re getting,” says Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in a speech launching his campaign in June, characterizing Mexican immigrants.

“It’s concerning how much hate he’s bringing,” Mondragon says.

She and Camalyne both say they never felt uncomfortable or judged in Maine before, until this year. Mondragon says she’s more aware of the brownness of her skin, of the way she speaks, and even the shortness of her haircut, and the fact that she’s married to a woman.

But, just like she did back in grade school, Mondragon says, she’s more determined than ever to succeed in America. And, she says, she refuses to become cynical about people.

“I have American friends who are truly my family and, you know, I would do anything for them, like I know they would do anything for me. And they don’t look at my skin color or who I am, they just look at my personality and the person who I am. And I’ll be here as long as not Trump says, but as long as God says. I’ll be here,” she says. “No doubt. This is my home.”

Mondragon hasn’t seen her parents for four years.

She’s hoping that she, Camalyne and Maddy can travel together as a family to see them in Michoacan in a couple of years, perhaps as a new citizen.

Meanwhile in Gouldsboro, Peter and Teresa’s plan is to keep on cooking.