During Hispanic Heritage Month, we honor the determination that has defined our families and continues building America’s future

When I tell people I’m a first-generation Mexican-American, I often think back to my childhood in El Paso and southern New Mexico. My grandfather came from a farm in Juchipila, Zacatecas, and found a home in Ciudad Juarez, working as a mailman – a cartero. He had a piece of mail he couldn’t deliver — a TV repair manual — and rather than toss it, he taught himself the trade. So, he built a small shop attached to my grandmother’s home. That TV repair shop became the backdrop of my childhood, where I learned what hard work and ingenuity look like. My uncle runs that shop today.

My mother worked long hours in the maquiladora industry working to make ends meet. Through that work, she earned her citizenship, and I became the first in my family born in the United States. That story — of sacrific