ICE Broke My Silence was born from déjà vu. As immigration raids returned to California headlines, Mikie felt her chest tighten. The fear was familiar. It carried her back to kindergarten during the years of the Chicano walkouts, to standing in the corner, not being taught to read, not understanding why.
One afternoon she stood beside her mother and heard her whisper, “Dios te cuide.” May God protect you. Mikie answered softly, “Dios te cuide también.” Then a man shouted, “Speak English! You’re in America! You dumb wetback!” She watched her mother’s face fall. She did not understand history. She only felt humiliation.
Labeled a product of her environment, Mikie grew up inside abuse, separation, and quiet limits placed around her family’s dreams. She carried shame she could not name.
In her forties, when she finally learned to read, she began searching for answers. That search led her to Operation Wetback (1954–1955) under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The slur hurled at her mother had once been written into federal policy.
Everything shifted. The shame was never hers. Systems shaped the narrative, not God. What began in humiliation became resilience. And when Mikie understood the truth, silence broke.
This book is a continuation of “The Forbidden Smile and
Denying the Beauty Within”
