Five years. That is how long Pilar Melero’s father waited for the government to approve his family’s permanent residence.

Melero, an associate professor of Spanish language, culture and literature, as well as the coordinator of race and ethnic studies at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, spoke Thursday at Marshall University, focusing on the Hispanic community’s struggle to find an identity in the United States.

“Like many immigrants, I grew up in Mexico,” Melero said. “I was already 10 and (my father, who had been legally working in the U.S.) didn’t really know me.”

Melero’s father started the process for his family to move to the U.S. legally when his daughter was 10.

“It took from when I was 10 to when I was 15 to get the paperwork approved,” Melero said. “I was able to move with my mother from the mountains in Mexico, a small mountain town, to Waukesha, Wisconsin.”

Melero’s seminar discussed celebrating hispanic culture.

“We don’t see ourselves in the history books, the stories, the films or movies, or we see versions of ourselves that are not as complete or accurate,” Melero said.

Melero said she believes if DACA beneficiaries are afforded the same opportunities she had when she came to the U.S., they too can become productive members of society.

“Some people say, ‘why don’t they just go back?’” Melero said. “I could have gone back. I spoke Spanish. That was my country. For a lot of them, they don’t even speak Spanish. They would be moving to a country that they don’t identify with. They are Americans.”

Sebastian Morris can be contacted at [email protected].