And so when I heard a cousin of mine, who is a good person, talking about immigrants living off of public assistance — another Trumpian lie — I had to remind her that our family lived off of public assistance, namely the cheap land that the government gave our ancestors as they became part of the critical number of white males required to live in Wisconsin before it could enter the United States as a state in 1848, a year after my ancestors arrived.

And I know my ancestors worked hard to make their dairy farms productive and self-supporting.

And so as I look at the stories of today’s immigrants, I see little difference except the largess that my ancestors received in the form of the land.

I have known the Lazo family for several decades, since my involvement with Centro Hispano back in the 1980s when the Urban League and Centro Hispano were running joint youth programs and I helped Centro out on the accounting end of it. But I had never known their immigration story, perhaps because I never asked and our relationships were premised on the here and now.

And since I had interviewed Yolanda Salazar-Torres for The Hues March 23^rd issue during Women’s History Month and learned about her immigration story, I decided to do the same with Frittz and Lidia Lazo whom I knew in passing, but had never been in the space where I could learn their story.

And their story puts the lie to EVERYTHING the Trump Administration puts out about immigrants.

Like any other immigrant who comes to the U.S., the Lazos had to give something up, their previous life and family. The Lazos were successful people in La Paz, Bolivia and would have been content to stay there living a middle-class life.

But due to Lidia’s health condition, part of the family and then all of the family was forced to emigrate to Madison for Lidia’s ongoing medical needs and to keep the family together. I don’t know if I could have done what Frittz did for the sake of his wife and his family. He left behind the pay and the status of being a school principal in La Paz to become a janitor, at first, in Madison. What an incredible sacrifice he made and he did it with such dignity.

And as I listened to their story, I never heard the words public assistance. They weren’t on the public dole. They were proud people who worked two jobs in order to make it or at least establish themselves in Madison.

And then, like so many other immigrants whom I have come to know over the years, the Lazos pooled their money together after the funds from selling their properties in Bolivia were getting depleted. And this pooling of money allowed them to start The Latin Club. While Frittz had been a school principal, that’s a very different management position than operating a bar-restaurant on the corner of State and Johnson Streets.

Back a decade or so, I remember all kinds of immigrant-started businesses, especially in South Madison. They were businesses that were started in people’s homes and then when they became profitable enough, they became store-front businesses on S. Park Street and other commercial areas. Outside of food, I remember stores that sold CDs of Spanish music and also were outlets for wire services so that people could send money back home to the loved ones who depended upon their money for survival.

These were businesses seemingly made out of nothing that survived for as long as their products were needed. Unfortunately CDs were replaced by downloadable music and people could alsi remit funds back home online.

And so the Lazos — and countless others — are the epitome of the real immigration story. Forced to come to the United States by circumstances often outside of their control and through their self-reliance, have made the best of the situation and made their American Dream come true. They have been part of the backbone of American prosperity for centuries. They should be cherished and encouraged, not scorned and caged like animals.

This Latine Heritage Month, The Hues salutes our immigrant neighbors from Latin America. Where would we be without you.