Archives West Finding Aid

This oral history interview with Maria Garcia was conducted by Maleya Luis on June 10, 2018. The interview was recorded for The Immigrant Story, an organization that documents and archives the stories of immigrants and refugees in the United States. In this interview, Garcia discusses her life in Mexico, the Mexico peso crisis of 1994, and immigrating to Palm Springs, California. She talks about her experience as a teenage parent immigrant in the United States and the ways the language barrier and being undocumented affected her. She talks about learning English as a second language; experiencing domestic violence and divorcing the father of her child; and getting American citizenship in 2010. She discusses her cultural and ethnic identity. She then talks about moving to Portland, Oregon, and opening the Revolución Coffee House. She also discusses learning to cook with her grandmother as a child. Garcia talks about her activism for Latino immigrants, her campaign for Multnomah County commissioner in 2018, and systemic racism. She speaks at length about the reasons people choose to come to the United States and presents some solutions to the treatment of undocumented immigrants at the time of the interview in 2018. She closes the interview by discussing the importance of cultural diversity and urging immigrants not to lose their cultural roots.