Immigrating legally means navigating a system both political parties say is broken. Here’s why it’s so difficult.

Carmen Ramirez and her daughter, Jessica Mejia in their Baytown, Texas home on August 24, 2023. Ramirez and Mejia, originally from Colombia, are pursuing US citizenship and preparing to take the naturalization test together. (Credit: Briana Vargas for The Texas Tribune)

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Jessica Mejía and her family had a good life in Colombia. They owned an electronics business and traveled to Houston every year, where they stayed with Mejía’s older sister Nataly, who had moved to Texas to study English at Houston Community College.