Episode 81, 50 min listen
In this episode, we'll meet Maria Beltran, an immigrant from Ecuador, and a paralegal who works every day on behalf of local immigrants. You'll quickly realize, as I did, that Maria is a force, a person who gets things done, someone anyone would be happy to have by their side.
Welcome to this very special series, New Roots, New Voices: Listening to Our Immigrant Neighbors, where we will listen to and lift up the voices and stories of local immigrants here in Greenville, South Carolina.
AUDIO PLAYER
You can access this episode wherever you listen to podcasts via our pod.link.
ADDITIONAL REFERENCES
Learn more about or contact Maria's business, Immigration Legal Resource International, LLC.
Learn more about The Hispanic Alliance of SC.
Learn more about the League of Women Voters of Greenville County.
Learn more about the Hispanic-American Women's Association (AHAM).
FULL TRANSCRIPT
-Introduction
Ame Sanders 00:10
This is the State of Inclusion Podcast, and I'm Ame Sanders. There is a lot in the news every day about immigrants, and a lot of it is negative. What if we went beyond the news? What if we opened our hearts and our minds to better understand the reality of immigrants in our own community? Over the next several weeks, we will listen to and lift up the voices and stories of local immigrants here in Greenville, South Carolina. Along the way, we will meet neighbors, families, friends, local icons, and legends. We will come to understand some of the challenges our immigrant neighbors face and how we can become better allies. Welcome to this very special series, New Roots, New Voices: Listening to Our Immigrant Neighbors.
In this episode, we'll meet Maria Beltran, an immigrant from Ecuador and a paralegal who works every day on behalf of local immigrants. Maria and I met through the League of Women Voters, as you'll soon learn, one of the many community organizations that Maria is part of. I first met Maria at her business office. Surprisingly, when she sent her address, I realized that her office was not far from my home, located in a building I drove by nearly every day without even noticing her business. It made me pause and reminded me yet again, just how easy it is for so many of us to go about our daily lives and remain oblivious to the world of immigrants and immigration in our own community. As I arrived for a meeting, the office building was quiet, but once inside her office, Maria's beautiful energy filled the room. I could tell right away that she would be a pleasure to talk with and that Maria is a force, a person who gets things done, someone anyone would be happy to have by their side.
So, Maria, tell us a little bit about yourself. You know who you are, and just a little bit about yourself.
Maria Belen Beltran 02:16
Hi, Ame. How Are You?
Good afternoon, and thank you for giving me this chance to speak on your podcast. My name is Maria Belen Beltran, and I am the owner and president of Immigration Legal Resource International. We hold a South Carolina Immigration Assistance Services license here in South Carolina. I'm originally from Quito, Ecuador. Okay, I've been in the United States for over 36 years, 30 of them in Miami, Florida, and six of them happily here in Greenville.
-Roots and Coming to Greenville
Ame Sanders 02:49
You mentioned that you're from Quito, Ecuador. Would you tell us a little bit about your roots and about your process of transplanting yourself to the US and to Greenville?
Maria Belen Beltran 03:01
Okay, well, this seed was planted, obviously, in Quito, Ecuador, and a beautiful plant was born on August 11. And I lived most of my life in you know, I lived not most of my life. I'm sorry. I lived in Ecuador until I was about 17 and a half, okay, then I immigrated to the United States before turning 18. Okay, I live first in Miami, Florida. I was in Hialeah first. Then, you know, along the way, maybe 10 years in, I went into Kendall and the Homestead area. Those are the areas that I was mainly living in in South Florida. In South Florida, I mainly did banking and finance. After doing a lot of years of banking and finance, I got involved into mortgages. And with mortgages, when the whole 2009 crisis happened, mortgages stopped being produced. So we started doing loan modifications. Then, loan modifications led me to working with a real estate attorney. I learned, you know, the whole legal part of real estate with that real estate attorney. That real estate attorney referred me to a criminal attorney, and I was at some point working for both attorneys as a paralegal. Coincidentally, the co-pastor of a church I used to go to was an immigration attorney. One day, when he found out that I was working in the legal field, even though it was real estate and criminal, he invited me to go ahead and help him on the immigration side. He said he was overwhelmed with work, and he wanted me to please help him a little bit alleviate that extra work he had. So I remember working for him only maybe 10 hours a week, then it increased to 15 hours a week, to 20 hours a week. To a point that he was like, Maria, I can't do this without you. Please. Would you come work full-time for me? So I went to work with him. I learned everything about, you know, most of the things I know now, obviously, about immigration. He is the one that after all these years being in Florida, he is the one that introduced me to Greenville, South Carolina. He was associating himself with an immigration firm here, and he wanted me to come with him to spend here, like 10 days in January of 2019, so I can help them train the paralegals in that group, in that team of that firm over here, so they can we, they could work parallel with us the way we worked in Miami. I came here in January, fell in love with the environment. Fell in love with the climate. The weather was like so cool and chilly. It actually reminded me of Ecuador. That is the funniest thing. I remember coming out of a meeting, and it was so chilly, and I felt the breeze on my cheek. And I was like, wow, it was just like when I go to Ecuador. Then I remember going to the supermarket, and it was so quiet, it was so nice. You know, the American people were so polite, so nice compared to how it is in Miami. It was like a total different world. I was like, Wow. I can see in my head. I was like, I could see myself, even though I was very well established in Florida. I was like, God, I could see myself, like living in a place like this, or maybe even retiring. I was thinking about retiring in a place like this. Then this attorney that came over here, that we came together, he offered me to stay here and work with a firm, but I didn't like some of the procedures the firm was doing, so I chose not to. But at some point, I went back to Florida, told my family, and told the attorney that I was moving to South Carolina. He couldn't believe it, because it was from one day to another. It was like one of those things that God says, That's it, get it done. Okay? So I remember in January, when we came to train for those 10 days, in March, I came back just to, like, walk around and understand the different places and different counties. You know, how far is this from this sort of and to find, you know, do I want to buy? Do I want to rent? You know, what are we going to do? And then in May, I moved completely, and I was like, You know what? I'm going to leave my house in Florida, even leave my son in Florida. He was 20-something at the time. And I came literally, with my car, my makeup, and my clothing. That's it. And I came out here. And the first 15 days I was in Greenville, I was in a hotel room, and I applied to three different places to move. And I said, God, whoever you choose to call me first for that application, that's where I'm going to live. So I went to the first place that called me. I went to live with them. Six months down the line, I went to a bigger apartment, and then, thank God, you know I was able to purchase my property here in Greenville, South Carolina. So yeah, I was planted in Ecuador. I was transplanted to Miami, Florida, and then I transplanted myself to Greenville, South Carolina, and I'm super happy here.
-Not Feeling Like an Immigrant
Ame Sanders 07:57
That's great. So tell me a little bit about how you came from Ecuador to the US, because when we first met, you shared a little bit about that with me, and even said to me, I guess it's okay for me to repeat this, that you didn't actually feel like an immigrant, because your story was maybe a little different than a lot of the immigrants that you work with. So would you share a little bit about that with us?
Maria Belen Beltran 08:25
Yes, 100%. And believe it or not, that concept in my own head came about the later days in my life. Why? When I came to the United States, it was like a rebel act, okay. My mother, my biological mother, had been here since I was four months old, but I was raised by my grandparents, and my mom and my dad were my grandparents, and they're all of the other ones that I met and I dealt with. I knew my biological mother was in the United States, but I hardly had communication with her. I hardly wanted to know anything about her. That is the truth. I was super happy the way my parents, you know, raised me, the way my grandparents raised me. So when I turned into a teenager, you know, hormones start kicking. I started liking boys. My grandparents always used to take care of so much of me. They were so strict in every shape and form. Because of the fact that I think that in their head, they always thought that they had to give me back to my mother at some point. So they used to take care of me like always, always involved in activities. They always said that as long as you maintain a kid busy, he doesn't have time to think about that stuff. So they kept me busy. I remember going to school, leaving taking music classes afterwards, taking English classes, then taking aerobics. So they were keeping me busy at all times. But when I turned about like 16, 17, a teenager, I was a cheerleader in my high school. And obviously, there were always guys around. So, you know, I started liking boys. And this is that they will forbid me from it. They were like, No, until you're 21, no dating, no friends. I could not have friends that were guys. So one day I was practicing on the terrace of my house. I was practicing, you know, one of the choreographies for cheerleading. And a friend that I have seen, a guy that I had seen before in one of my parades, passed by. And he just went like that to me, and I, you know, I waved and he waved, and then I waved back, not knowing that across from my house was my father, my grandpa, and he saw me doing that, and he saw it was a guy. He was, like, horribly upset. I remember not having dinner that night. That's how they used to punish me. They never punished me, like hitting me or anything like that. Their punishment was no dessert, no dinner. And in some cases, when it was something really strong, there was no communication. They were not talking.
Maria Belen Beltran 11:01
So they were very upset because of that. And at that point, I was like, Oh, my God, I'm almost an adult. From my head, I'm 18, I'm going to turn 18. That's what you call an adult. This is not fair. My friends have boyfriends. My friends stay over at a friend's house. My friends put on some makeup. I couldn't do any of that. So finally, I was like, I have a resource. I have a mom. You know, I have a biological mom in the US. Let me call her.
So I remember calling her and telling her, Hey, your parents are not behaving well with me. So, you know, why don't you just take me over there for a little bit? It was just like, bring me over here for a little bit of time, maybe to give them like a punishment or something. When I came to the United States, I went to Miami, my mom, my biological mom, made sure that her friends, family, and people that she knew treated me the best way in the United States so I could stay here. So I ended up staying, I did all my paperwork. So that's when I talk about the concept, going back into that part about me not feeling as an immigrant, and that concept, like I said, changed within in the later days. It is because when I got involved with immigration, and seeing all the struggles and the trouble that immigrants have to go through to come to the United States for a or b reason, I didn't have to go through that. So for me, like being called called an immigrant, it was actually more of an honorable thing because of what you have to go through. And I didn't go through that. So that's why when people say you're an immigrant, yeah, that's true. I sort of forget sometimes, but that's why, just because I didn't have to go through those struggles, thank God.
-About Home
Ame Sanders 12:43
So one of the things that's clear from the discussions is you've had several different homes, so tell me a little bit, if you would, about what home means to you and how you think about home, both the home you came from, the home you have now.
Maria Belen Beltran 13:00
Yeah, I feel like the home that I came from in Ecuador was full of love, compassion, generosity. My grandparents were super generous. We were always helping people. I know for a fact that seeing my grandmother the way she used to be with people, the way she used to help people, has been such a large influence on me.
Okay, I'm sorry. Thinking about my grandmother a little bit…you know, she passed, so it's a little bit, you know, I'm sorry. I apologize.
Ame Sanders 13:36
No, it's okay. Take a minute.
Maria Belen Beltran 13:38
When I was young, I used to remember seeing her doing certain things that I will be like, Why does she do that? We used to have a store, a supermarket, so the supermarket was on the street that was like, you know, very inclined. So there always used to be a little old woman that used to sell candles in church. So the old woman would always walk up to her house, super high, up there in the hills. And at some point, my mom just started telling her to come in and she will serve her a plate of food, you know, on and off, on and off when she was able to see her, because, you know, you're busy working so as long she was able to see her, she will get her and get her in and give her a cup of soup, you know. And I remember seeing that and saying, like, well, the lady is not my family. The lady's not our family. Why does my mother do that? You know, I wouldn't understand it when you were smaller. But then, with time, she explained it to me why you do that, you know? And she always tell me, like, you do that in a way to thank life, to thank God for what they're giving you. So I'm thankful for everything that has been given to us. You know, our life, our health, our business. You tell me like that. So, in a way of gratitude to life and to God, I help others.
So I learned that from them 100% so my childhood, my home. And in Ecuador was full of nourishment, full of love, care, compassion, generosity. Of course, like I said, my hormones turn me into a rebel young that's why I end up over here. Over here, I made Miami my home for a long time. I fell also in love with Miami. At some point, I met my son's father there. So I always believe that, you know, God knows his timing and why he does what he does. God wanted me to have the father of my child in Miami. That's where it happened. That's where he put me. So one of the best accomplishments in my life is my son. So that's where it happened. So I made Miami my home. It was a home of a total transition, 360 degrees from what I was used to in Ecuador. To be over here, becoming an independent, empowered woman on my own. Okay?
In Ecuador, I had my grandparents. We had servants in the house. I always had somebody washing my clothes, somebody taking me to school, the Nana, and things like that. Here I was on my own. And even though I was with my biological mother, we would not get along. She had a way of being that I wasn't used to. So that transition was really hard. You know, we used to eat dinner at a certain time with my parents every Saturday and Sunday were time for the family and let's go out. Let's go to the club. Let's go to a different city. Let's travel. Every weekend was like family time, fun time while the rest of the time they were working, I was in school. So, you know, we had a tradition of what to do every single day. Like I couldn't go to sleep unless I went to my parents and asked for their blessings. They will bless me, and then I will go to sleep. You know, things like that, traditions that are so, you know, we see them as simple, but then in life, we realize, wow, that was such a big deal in our life. So when I came here, I couldn't ask my mom for a blessing. She didn't know what that was. I had brothers and sisters, and she would sometimes hit them. And to me, that was like a big no-no. So I remember, one of the biggest confrontations that I had with her was that I told her that she cannot hit my brother, that I prefer her to hit me than to hit my brother. So we were not getting along to the point that I left the house to go live on my own. To live on my own, was another shock, you know. Oh my God, I have to buy furniture, get an apartment. You know, I was like, 20 years old, okay, then my own apartment, work, do so many things. I was still going to school. I was going to college in Miami. I was working, so I had to sort of grow up on my own over here. By the way, my grandparents were so upset that I did not come back to Ecuador after I was just supposed to come here for vacation that they stopped talking to me for 12 years. So I worked on my own. I had to learn to raise my voice, because I remember I used to talk very, very like, you know, quiet, very slow. If somebody will be speaking to me. I will look down. I was very, very humble, okay? And I had a couple people, couple of the angels that God sent into my life, that they were like, No, you have rights. You could do this. You need to raise your voice. You need to always give your opinion. So people guided me through that part. So I felt like Miami was my school, my training for life, me becoming an empowered woman, knowing what I want and going for it. But, you know, working hard for it, not getting anything for free or given to me. And then so many years went by, and I came to Greenville. And in Greenville, I find peace. I feel that after a certain age in your life, more than anything else in life, you want tranquility and peace. And that's what I found in Greenville. That's what I found in Greenville. That's the first thing I felt. And it has been like that so far. Sometimes I am doing stuff here, and I would be like, if I was in Miami, I would be so stressed right now, but here is a different thing. So I just planted myself over here in Greenville, and now consider it my home. I love my community. I love my peers. I love my other you know, business owners are in the different fields. I love to see the growth there is. I'm just sometimes afraid that I don't want it to turn into a Miami with so many people.
-Looking Back
Ame Sanders 19:49
Yeah, it has grown a lot, for sure. So thank you for sharing about your different phases of home and the things that touched you, and developed you through those different phases. Because we do carry that forward as we age. It never leaves us. Right? Those things never leave us. So one of the things that you touched on, and I want to just kind of ask you a little bit about it, is in order to leave home at the age you did and to come here, you already told us one of the things you left behind for a time were your grandparents, your parents. So you had to leave some things behind to find yourself here in this moment. Is there anything else that you want to mention that you feel like you left behind? But I also want to ask you, so I'll go ahead and put this out there. Also want to ask you about, are there things that you found here that you didn't expect?
Maria Belen Beltran 20:48
Well, one of the things, the people that I left behind, sort of in Florida, was my son. But he was given the option to come over here. But in 2019, when we came, when I came to Greenville, and he came to visit me, maybe, you know, six months after, he was like, Mom, this is such a calm city. I'm in the music business. I don't think this will work out. So I left him there. I left my house there. It was funny because I left my house with everything inside. So, you know, he decided that the house was a four-bedroom house. He decided to rent each room to a roommate, and like that, paying the mortgage and things like that. And until now, I go over there and they'll be like, you know, Okay, we're going to use your toaster to do that. I'm like, it's not mine anymore. Like, you know, you guys can use it.
So I left my home. I left a lot of good friends. I left my church, my pastors, my pastor has actually come over here and visited us. My pastor actually came from Miami over here to marry me in Greenville. He also loves Greenville. Yeah, he’s been talking about, like coming more often. So I see, see him retired here in Greenville as well. So, yeah, I left all those things over there. But here, for some reason, what I found was tranquility. The ability to help more people. Okay, I feel the immigration field is super-saturated in Florida, okay, it's super-saturated. There's so many immigration attorneys. There's so many immigration preparers, paralegals, documents, people, you know, people, and you know some are good, some are bad, but there's so many that sometimes I know that because I give up the quantity, they don't give quality service. So there's a lot of complaints about people doing things wrongly and damaging people's life. But here, you know, because of the status or something like that. So here, when I came, there were not that many Hispanics. I was going to the park, and you will see maybe one or two Hispanics, and, you know, in one afternoon in Unity Park, and now it's like more than half of them are Hispanics. You know, I was looking at the statistics, and yes, in 2010 only 3.47% were Hispanics here in Greenville County, and now they're almost 7% so that has grown over 100%. So that's why you see so many. So yeah, I feel like I found a new community. I found a different community that I could serve, and I found opportunity. To tell you the truth, my title was a paralegal in Florida, working for attorneys. When I came here, I imagine, I assume, that I was supposed to, like, update my my certificate or my title here and register here in South Carolina. I went to the Bar, and the beautiful American people in the Bar were like, well, you have enough experience, why don't you just open your IAS license. And I was like, what is that? And then they go, Well, you know, you need to be a citizen. You need to get a voter registration, and we'll do a background check on you, and you can actually perform all the USCIS processes and help people in their immigration process. The only thing that you cannot do is to give legal advice or represent them in a court, so everything else can be done. I was like, Oh, wow. I didn't know that. I started learning about it. I applied, I was approved, I got my license, and I started working here. Instead of working for somebody here, I just go ahead and open my own company. And thank God, it has been awesome. It has been beautiful. I've met so many nice people, not only immigrants and clientele, but also other business owners. Hispanic business owners that have started their business here in Greenville, South Carolina, have developed it and keep on developing.
-About Her Work
Ame Sanders 24:55
So what are some of the more challenging and difficult aspects of your work. And then I'm going to also ask you about some of the more rewarding and positive. So tell me a little bit about the two sides of your work.
Maria Belen Beltran 25:09
I think the most challenging, I will say, sometimes, is getting involved in the situation and the lives of our of our immigrants and their situation, their family. I am a very emotional, sensitive person, so sometimes it's like the same way that I rejoice so much when a good case is coming out and they get their papers and things like that. I also get very sad sometimes when something doesn't come out the way it should come out, okay? So sometimes getting involved in those people's lives, getting to know what they have to go through, the struggle. They have to go through abuses, injustices they go through when they're crossing the border things including such as stealing their money, stealing their belongings, getting raped, getting kidnapped for ransom. So it's the hardest part to try to fit myself into their shoes. But it also helps me understand them better, okay? And then I have to, like, come back into the immigration assistance services person, instead of just a human being, so I can have more strength to help them out. So I think that was the hardest struggle. And nowadays, obviously, one of the hardest struggles is the fact that our policies and rules, and regulations around immigration are changing day by day almost. So we have to be every day updating with whatever changes happen. So it's like every day, we have to have a couple hours of study and updating information before we can go out there and tell a person, yes, we can help you with this. No, we cannot help you with that. No, that cannot be done, and so on. So those are the struggles we go through. The change of policies that affect processes that are already initiated, and getting involved in the life and the situation and the struggles of the people that come through.
Ame Sanders 27:15
And you mentioned that helping people have their cases resolved successfully is one of the more rewarding pieces for you.
Maria Belen Beltran 27:24
Oh yeah, yeah. It's beautiful. It's just to hear that somebody's like, oh, Maria, I have my residency card. Oh, Maria, I have become a citizen. Oh, Maria, I'm going back to my country after 20 years. I'm going back to my country after 30 years. You know, there's some of these immigrants that are here and cannot leave the country, and their parents die. They cannot be at their funeral. They cannot be there with them to help their families, to support them, to give them a hug, to give them hope. So that's also a sad part, like I told you, is the emotional side. But when you know, I have a lot of my clients who not only are clients, but they become friends. So a lot of them share with me. Oh, Maria, I got this. Oh, Maria, I bought a house. Oh, Maria, my son graduated with honors. He has grants for school. Oh, Maria, you know, I had this guy, this group of people that they have gone to, like, maybe three different attorneys to try to fix their case. Wasted well over $30,000 and more than 20 years, nothing has been resolved. You know, I got into the picture, I analyzed the case, and I saw one thing, only, one thing. And I was like, did any of these attorneys ask you about this? And they're like, No. I'm like, Okay, well, since you had a petition, you know, in this case, they have petitioned before the year, 2000 they can apply for a forgiveness that they don't have to leave the country. All they have to pay is, like, a $1,000 fine. And I was like, None of these attorneys ask you for this? And they're like, No. I'm like, Well, you can speak by making the petition through your son, just paying the $1,000 each for the forgiveness, and you'll become, you know, a resident. So these people follow everything and tell them, and they got their residency. They could not believe it. I went to the interview with them as an interpreter. I went to the interview. The officer told them, Well, congratulations, you should be receiving your card in two weeks. And they're like, Okay. They were just like that, okay. And I was like, jumping up and down. I was all excited. And I was like, aren't you excited? The guy just told you, you're like, yeah, yeah. But we have been let down so many times that until we get the card in our hands, we're not going to get excited. So they got the cards in their hand.
There's this musical Mexican band called MF, okay. And they play a song called My House, okay. And that song talks about you leaving your loved ones in your country. You seeing them through a video camera is not the same as giving them a physical hug; you leaving the love of your life, either your wife or your mother, your parents in your country. And you know it talks about the struggles that immigrants go through here, and how they wish they could come back home. So this gentleman, when they finally came back home, they hired the band to play at their house. They were able to purchase the house that they were raised in. Wow. They made a big party. And even though the parents couldn't be there because they're both also passed away, they had, like, their pictures. It was like saying, like they were present in the party, and they were dancing and they were crying, but they were happy. So those people sharing those things with me is, like, a big deal. It's like, it makes me feel like, God, you know, I cannot, I may not change everybody that gets in contact with me life, but those couple ones that are making a difference. It's well worth the life. I think it's well worth it.
-Hope for the Future
Ame Sanders 31:04
So I think you just answered the next question I was going to ask you, but you may have something you want to add to it, which is I was going to ask you, ask you to look back and talk about things that you left, but as you look forward, I know your work is difficult. Sounds like your life is good. But what are some of the things that give you hope for the future?
Maria Belen Beltran 31:26
Believe it or not, one of the things that gives me hope is seeing that in the future I have a lot of people that are going to acquire their status and be comfortable and be safe and don't have the fear that they have to go through every day. Believe it or not, people like you. American, people that I meet give me hope, because you see, you could choose to have any other topic on this podcast but you chose to talk about immigration, about refugees, about asylum seekers, about the different immigrant communities. You know you chose to do this, something in your heart to have to impose that. Okay? You want to see the change. You want to communicate which you have a powerful source to do that right now. So people like you bring me hope.
We did a community fair in Haywood Mall, and it was on a Saturday morning. It was the day that, I think, the weekend before kids went back to school. And there were different organizations, there. Different nonprofits and things like that, insurance companies, domestic violence companies that will handle things like that. But we were the only immigration assistance services there. And it was, ironically, it was like we were there, standing there, and people would just come by. And we thought those people wanted information or a company or information about how we can help them.But most of them were American, white, American people that will come to us and just say, thank you for what you're doing. We are with you. Don't think different. We're with you. We believe in you. We need you. So just having those people come over to our booth and just say that. It was so gratifying. So we were excited to hear that. And it was actually surprising, right? It was actually surprising to us to have so many people just come and show up just to tell that. Thank you for what you're doing. We support you. You know, hopefully things will change for the better soon. So, yeah, you see those people give me hope, because I know that not everybody's in the negative side of the thinking of immigrants and immigration and things like that. There's a lot of people that know who we are. There's a lot of people that know that we're here to work hard, to progress, to pay our taxes, to buy houses, to open businesses, that's what we're doing. You know, I know that it's not all of us, but most of us are. So, you know, I make a call to most of those people that say thank you for, you know, for believing in us and, you know, giving us those words of hope, but also to invite the rest of the community, even our own Hispanic community, to learn more about us. Because it's not the same that you are an immigrant, let's say from Colombia, okay? And you came for your own reasons, than you're an immigrant that came from Mexico, okay? From Hondura, from Guatemala. Each story is different. Each situation is different. Yes, most of the people come for economic...a lot of people come for economical reasons. Other people come because they have no other option. Okay, they have no other option. Their life is at risk. Their life is in danger wherever they're staying. So sometimes, like I said, when somebody comes, you are an immigrant because you're going from one country to the other, but you don't consider yourself an immigrant because you're not going through the struggles that others are going through. You sometimes don't understand. So you still see them as regular immigrants. You don't see them as the same as you in our own cultures that happen. You know, you have Mexicans that came because of economically here, others came because the cartel was following them. And even though they're both from Mexico, they both immigrated, they don't see each other the same, and they'll actually hunt each other's head, in a way, sometimes. So I invite people to communicate, learn about each other. That even happens to me sometimes. I don't know if it ever has happened to you, that sometimes you have somebody that acts a different way, act a little bit different, and you know, you may clash with their soul, in a way. It happens to me. Often it happens to me. Recently, there was this Mexican lady. And I was like, Oh my gosh. She's so arrogant. I feel she's so pretentious, she's so whatever. And then one day, I was forced to help her in something, and I was like, Oh my god. Well, okay, let me, let me help. Let me talk to her. And I started talking to her, and now she's like my best friend. She helps me with things that you know she doesn't even have to help me with. But you see, I had to give her a chance. If I would have said no to helping her when she needed me that day, I wouldn't have gotten the chance to meet her and to know about her. So I invite the whole community to do that with especially with, you know, immigrant people, learn about them. You never know when we can need each other. Okay, we may need your guidance, understanding what it is to be a US citizen and to be an American. We may need your guidance and how to open a corporation and follow rules and, you know, regulations and things like that. But you may need us to fix your plumbing. You may need us to cook for you, because we cook delicious you guys are always filling the Mexican restaurant. So you guys love our cooking. So we all need each other and understanding that unless I communicate with the other human beings about who they are, where they come from, how do they think, what is their culture? We'll never give each other a chance. Ame, we have to communicate. We have to learn about each other one way or another.
-About Immigrants and Becoming Better Allies
Ame Sanders 37:07
So I think you've answered with that the last the two questions that I had next, which is, what do you wish we knew about immigrants? And my takeaway from your comment is that we need to open ourselves to listen and to learn about them, and then we will find out what we need to know.
Maria Belen Beltran 37:27
And we're not all perfect. There's some, there's some Hispanics out there that I feel ashamed of. That's the truth, but I will say most of us are good people.
Ame Sanders 37:36
Is there anything that in addition to listening, is there anything that you either wish we knew about immigrants and immigration, or that we could do, people like me could do to be better allies?
Maria Belen Beltran 37:53
One of the things, like I said, I go back to my roots. I go back to the roots. Okay, my grandmother taught me what it was to be generous, what it was to help people, to be kind, and to learn to be compassionate. So in my field, a lot of times I realized, oh my god, the whole day we're so busy, and I can plan my whole week how I wanted to go, and it's definitely not going to go that way. Because one thing happens, and then a hiccup happens over here, and then a client has an emergency, and everything changes. I always say, like our office days are all adventures. That's how they are here, because of the situation of change and rules and this and that. But what I realized is that the way that me, personally, I have been able to communicate with the community, to share with the community, to help the community. If I've gotten involved, I am very community involved. Okay? I am part of AHAW, the American Hispanic Association of Women. They do events, they do reunions, they do meetings, they do parties, they do festivals. They do the largest Hispanic Heritage Festival here in Greenville, South Carolina, which is actually coming up on September 14 in the Fluor Field, from 12 to 6pm. All my American, white friends should come, and they would be delighted with dances, folkloric costumes, food from the different countries: Colombia, Venezuela. I am representing the Ecuadorian table. Okay, they can come by our booth as well. But these ladies have been doing this for 27 years, and it all started with a couple of Latin ladies having some coffee, making a decision, hey, we're a little bit bored. What can we do? Why don't we get together? Do events, do fundraising, and help students of Hispanic origin, you know, descendants, to get grants for schools. Okay? Every year, they give $120,000 $150,000 to help these kids continue with their education. So I'm involved with them. I'm part of the festival. I'm one of the members. I collaborate and donate with them for different occasions. Okay, that's one nonprofit, the next one, Hispanic Alliance. Hispanic Alliance is like a gem here in South Carolina, okay, especially for the Hispanic community. They have an education department, they have a financial department, they have a legal department, and they have a health department. Once you reach out to the Hispanic Alliance and you have a situation, they know exactly where to guide you. Who's going to help you? Do you need something from the health? Do you need something from the legal? I'm proudly part of their legal volunteer network. We help them. We help them with creating a Power of Attorney clinic. We're doing those here in Greenville. We help them each year, doing the citizen workshops. So if you're a legal permanent resident for more than five years, we are able to help you without any cost to fill out your citizenship application and submit it to USCIS so you become a citizen. So they have so many, they have the community health fairs. People could go over there and be checked by the pressure, their glucose, you know, mammogram, free mammograms, and things like that. So, Hispanic Alliance is also a very well-known nonprofit.
Get involved. You don't have to donate money. You can just donate your time. And sometimes your time is worth a lot more than any dollar. Okay, I'm part of the League of Women Voters. Okay, that's how we sort of connected. Okay, we're part of the League of Women Voters. We volunteer. We go to the USCIS service center and help people register to vote, you know, show them how they can do it, how they connect and things like that. They do different events, also to promote, obviously, the Voting Rights I'm part of, Woman to Woman. That's another institution that we donate. They help, you know, battered and abused women. So I think that when you're so busy in your environment, and you may not be able to be out there at all times, you know, get involved with this nonprofit, with this community. Find something that is close to your heart. Find something that is close to your heart and get involved.
That's one of the things that can help a lot of people get involved in that way. You could connect with more community and know them better. You have no idea how many important people I have met in these events, not only ones that I'm going to serve, but ones that I could count on in the future, where we want to help an immigrant. Okay? Because, apart from our work, we also do a little bit of screening on the clients and the immigrants’ environment, to see if they have any type of needs. When there's a need, I just get together three or four business owners, and tell them, hey, let's do this. Let's let's do this event. Let's give out free toys for immigrant kids in PRISMA. Let's do it and we can always count on each other. So it's not only the fact that you mean all the people that are, that happen to be immigrants, but you know business owners that have the same heart in the place that you have. And you put it all together, it will become very powerful.
Ame Sanders 43:30
So when I when I listen to you, there are a number of things that I take away, and I'll just try to recap a few of them. One is first, to give people a chance. To open our hearts and our minds, to give people a chance, and as you were talking about the lady that you your soul clashed with, that you found a friend, after all, when you gave her a chance. That we should just show some compassion and be willing to listen and to learn and then to get involved and show up, whatever that means for us and whatever we're able to do to get involved and show up. And as you're saying, join with others, because there's power in numbers, and our social capital and our relationships that we have can help us accomplish more together than we could individually. So those are some pretty incredible pieces of advice for us. Maria, is there anything else that you want to share or that we haven't talked about that you feel like we should cover?
Maria Belen Beltran 44:39
I think mainly that, you know, I think it's very important to communicate. I think communication and respect, okay? I was thinking about that this morning. You know, my grandparents were together over 50 years, right? And I always used to, I always used to say. Saying, like, when we have been together for such a long time, you know, what is it that you guys did or do differently than others, that you stayed together for such a long time? And how do you maintain love for so many years? And it was funny, because my grandfather would look at my grandmother and they look at each other. He's like, you know, love comes and goes. But what has always kept there is respect. Okay? The respect is what makes us stay together, no matter what happens. Okay. So I think learning to respect other people, even though they don't think like you, even though they don't act like you, is sometimes even more powerful than love. I think that because respect puts limitations. Respect puts so many things on the table for you to have good communication, especially with people. Okay, so I think that's very important. And you know, when I was talking about that, about interviewing people that have been together for a long time, it's funny, because they all it's coincidence. They all talk about the same thing. I'm like, Yeah, we get used to each other. You know, there's sometimes that we fall in love until we fall out of love, but yeah, respect and consideration for each other has kept us together, okay? And one funny thing about me is that even though I had a child when I was 23 years old. It was out of wed, and I never got married, okay. But if I was to at, let's say, 18 or 20 say God, when am I going to get married with the love of my life? And he was to tell me, you're going to get married with the love of your life at 50 years of age, I would tell him, No way I am. I'm not that patient. I am not going to wait. Well, believe it or not, remember, in Miami, I found the father of my son. In Greenville, I found the love of my life. So I got married at 50 years old, and it's going great. It's going wonderful. And, you know, we're traveling the world, that's what he's doing. And believe it or not, my husband was an immigrant case. My husband was an immigrant case. Yeah, I married him. I helped him. You know, he's legal now, and you know he didn't leave the country for 24 years, and now all he thinks about is traveling the world, taking advantage of what he couldn't do before, freedoms that he didn't have before.
Ame Sanders 47:18
So, Maria, thank you so much for sharing about your life, sharing about your family, and sharing about your roots and your parents or grandparents who taught you so much in life. So thank you for joining me today.
Maria Belen Beltran 47:35
No thank you for giving us the space to rest and share what we are and who we are. Thank you so much.
-Conclusion
Ame Sanders 47:45
You know, in this interview, I was struck by the many layers of Maria's story. Maria is both an immigrant herself and someone who helps other immigrants navigate our challenging and complex immigration system. Like Ziad in our earlier episode, Maria is also an entrepreneur, one who has built her own successful business right here in Greenville and contributes to our community's economy every day. Maria is someone who is also very committed, engaged in our community, someone who volunteers, who gives back in so many ways, and she's someone who immigrated as a teen, but also someone who chose to relocate to Greenville as an adult. And in that, she shares experiences of immigrants, but also the common experience shared by many of us who now call Greenville home, the very common experience of choosing to relocate and make a new life and home here to find opportunity in Greenville. And Maria also brings with her the values instilled in her by her Ecuadorian grandparents, values of respect, kindness, compassion, helping others, and giving back, as well as the importance of family. Each day, Maria works in the face of rapidly evolving immigration policies to help other immigrants navigate a challenging and narrowing path to legally live and work in the US. She does that with professionalism, empathy, and great care. She shares in the disappointments as well as the successes and celebrations of her clients, many of whom become her friends. I believe that Maria's role is also essential, not only for her clients but also for our community. If we want secure borders and if we want our immigrant neighbors to come here legally, we must realize that doing so has become an increasingly expensive, complex, lengthy, and sometimes practically impossible path for so many. We need, and our community needs, neighbors like Maria who serve as navigators and support resources for those who come here from other countries and want to, legally, make Greenville their home.
This has been the State of Inclusion Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, the best compliment for our work is your willingness to share the podcast or discuss these ideas with others. Also feel free to leave us a review or reach out. We love to hear from you. And join us for the next episode in this very special series, New Roots, New Voices: Listening to Our Immigrant Neighbors.
CONTRIBUTORS
Guest: Maria Belen Beltran
Host: Ame Sanders
Social Media and Marketing Coordinator: Kayla Nelson
Podcast Coordinator: Emma Winiski
Sound: Uros Nikolic