Luis Grijalva, the Guatemalan dreamer who cannot leave the United States and is preparing for the big coup of the World Cup

The Guatemalan Luis Grijalvafinalist this Sunday in the 5,000 meters of the Eugenio World Cup 2022grew up in the United States under the protection of the program DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), launched by Barack Obama to prevent the deportation of hundreds of thousands of people who arrived undocumented as children. With long hair, a friendly smile and an elegant step, Grijalva is one of those young people, known as dreamers (Dreamers) and was barely able to compete outside the United States due to program restrictions, unsuccessfully attacked during the Donald Trump era.

“I dream of traveling the world”Grijalva, 23, confessed in an interview in Stockholm last June. That stay to compete in Sweden was the second for the athlete outside of North America.

“I was born in Guatemala, my parents took me as an undocumented immigrant when I was one year old. I grew up in Fairfield, California. It is a beautiful place, green and hilly, but the city is rather a ghetto. It is not easy to become an athlete from there. My father washes cars and also works in a factory. It is the classic story of immigrants. He is 60 and works like crazy. I started when I was about 13 and I was starting high school. I did it in the cross team but I wasn’t very good and it took me a while to get into the sport. I started taking it seriously when I was 16. In 2017 I joined Northern Arizona University, where I still am, “he introduced himself.

Grijalva finished third in the semifinals in 13’14’04, her best time of the season. He remained at the top of the group at various points of the race but ended up giving the top positions to Kenyan Jacob Krop (13m13s30) and to Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen (13m13s92). “It was really good. The goal was the final, not who came first. If you make it to the final, you are automatically one of the top 15 in the world. This is for Guatemala and Central America ”, he said after getting the pass for the world title race.

Eugene 2022 is an oasis in the midst of the difficulties he goes through to progress in his life and career. “DACA allows me to live in the United States and obtain a driving and work permit. But I can’t apply for citizenship, I can’t have a green card. It is very difficult to leave the country. You must apply for the permit approximately six months in advance. If I leave the country without a permit, I cannot return for 10 years. I went to the Tokyo Olympics and it was my first time leaving the United States. I dream of traveling the world but administrative procedures are always very heavy. You have to hire a lawyer which costs around $ 4,000, ”she explained. But all this effort paid off: “For Tokyo I got the permit only two days before the trip. It was a great achievement, a dream that came true. Somehow I was able to represent the Dreamers, the people who depend on DACA, more than 600,000 people ”.

His two older brothers went to court. They were also on DACA. “They were sent back to Guatemala when I was 13. I haven’t seen them since. My mom is back in 2020. I’m not an activist, just an inspiration. This is much bigger than athletics. We Dreamers are always at the limit ”, concluded Grijalva, a double dreamer.