This story is part of America @ 250: The Questions Before Us, a series from IPM News and the Illinois Student Newsroom.
CHAMPAIGN — A birthday is a time for celebration and reflection: Where have we been? Where are we right now? And where are we going?
IPM is celebrating America’s 250th birthday by inviting people from across east-central Illinois to share what they think are the most important questions facing Americans at this historic moment.
Champaign resident Sammy Garduno opened Sammy’s Pancake House on North Mattis Avenue in Champaign in 2006. In April, he retired and handed management duties over to his daughter Veronica. He emigrated from Mexico at age 16 and says he sees the U.S. as a country of opportunity.
The following transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
You got to put your brains to work in this country. Don’t get up in the morning saying what this country is going to do for me. No, my friend, you have to say, what can I do or this country?
For me, I’m going to get up 5:30 in the morning, 4:00 in the morning, and go to work. And I’m going to provide my customers what I can do for them — the best breakfast in town. That’s how I started my business, and I continue to do it, you know. That’s why we’re here.
When I left Mexico, I was 16 years old. I was working with my dad on a farm. My older brother was here, working in a kitchen, so I decided to come to the United States to have a better life. I didn’t know how to speak any English, and I started washing dishes with the Greek restaurants in Chicago. And then I worked as a busboy. And then I start learning a little bit of the language, you know. And then my brother taught me the kitchen.
I started making more money and bought a car. Light blue, like a sky blue, Ford Gran Torino. It was the best one at that time. And I said, oh my God, this is nice. And that’s how I started.
For 27 years I worked for the Greek people, and I left. It was 2006, and I bought this building to start my own business. And when I opened the doors, people said, ‘Go to Sammy’s, go to Sammy’s. You’re going to get a great breakfast over there,’ because of my food, because of my service, because of the way my place looks.
I was so happy with myself. I was paying everybody. I was putting money in my pocket. Everything was great. In my mind it’s my dream come true because I came from nowhere, left from Mexico, left my family, came to the United States, with nothing.
This is a country for opportunities and to try to be somebody. I’m 67, and I think I got it. I think I got it, thanks to God, thanks to the United States.
I’m retired now. I’ve turned the torch to my daughter. My grandkids are working over here now, and I hope my daughter will do better than me.
Right now, as an immigrant, it’s kind of tough. So, my question goes to the president: ‘You promise us you’re going to help. Why don’t you do what you promised us you were going to do?’ You told us we’re going to make America great back again. And I don’t see it.
I voted for Trump once because I saw him as a sensible business guy. In the first term, he did good things, I remember. So I vote for him again. And the second time he came, right now, he’s doing good things for him, not for us.
What this president is doing now is making people afraid, making people depressed, making little kids terrified because his father goes to work and they know immigration’s around there. The families are afraid to go to the market to get the food because they know they might get caught in the market. They don’t take the kids to school because they’re afraid they’re going to get caught by the immigration when they bring their kids to school.
These people, they’ve been working here for 20-some years, maybe 30 years, and they make this country grow, too. They are not criminals, but they don’t have the ability to get their papers, for any reason.
The government, what they do just separates people, separates the country. And that’s no good for our country. Our country is divided and that’s no good.
Our president right now, he doesn’t do things the way he’s supposed to be doing them. He’s been doing the opposite, and it’s no good for us. It’s no good for the American people. It’s no good for America.
This story was reported by University of Illinois Journalism Professor Charles “Stretch” Ledford. If you have an idea for the America @ 250 series or would like to be featured in an upcoming story, please contact Stretch at stretch@illinois.edu.