GOULDSBORO, Maine — One of the volatile political topics of 2016, not just in America but in Europe as well, is that of immigration and resettlement. In the United States, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has put Mexico at the center of his rhetoric, proposing a Berlin-style wall along the southern U.S. border.
On a warm, sunny, Down East day, Route 1 was 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,” said Peter Valencia, who with his wife, Teresa, has recently opened 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 Peter and his wife said they really wanted to have their own business, to bring something new to the community.
He said 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 said, “so that’s a good thing.”
Peter 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 his wife have both done a variety of jobs, from picking nuts in California to fishing and making balsam wreaths.
Peter has been in Maine for 16 years, and like many Mexican-Americans, his family is scattered. Some are still in Mexico, some in California, others working farms in Georgia, and some were just pulling up in a big family car to give him a hand at the restaurant.
Karla Mondragon, 22, is Peter’s cousin. 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, was busy behind the counter, taking orders and getting ready for the lunchtime rush.
Children, 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.
Karla is seeking citizenship through her marriage to Camalyne. She is officially still a citizen of Mexico, and she has been granted work permits because her parents brought her over as a child.
They had come here to work at the now-closed Stinson Sardine Cannery when Karla was 10 years old. It was two years before she could speak English. Karla said that 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 said.
Most of the people she met growing up Down East were welcoming, but she said 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.
Her parents eventually decided to head back home to Michoacan. By that time, Karla 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 it, 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 said. “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,” Trump said in a speech launching his campaign in June, characterizing Mexican immigrants.
“It’s concerning how much hate he’s bringing,” Karla said.
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She and Camalyne both said they never felt uncomfortable or judged in Maine before, until this year. Karla said 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, Karla said, she’s more determined than ever to succeed in America. And, she said, 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 said. “No doubt. This is my home.”
Karla 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.
This article appears through a media partnership with Maine Public Broadcasting Network.