'My dream is in another country': Woman willingly leaves United States after 20+ years in Fresno

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- One suitcase and a carry-on.

Inside: only items with sentimental value and a few essentials to start a new life.

After 21 years in the United States, Patricia Topete Vazquez is going back to where she came.

"My dream was to be in the US, and now, my dream is in another country," she said.

It was a big decision for Patricia to leave the only country she had known since she was a little girl.

Last November, after Donald Trump was re-elected president, Patricia began to envision her life outside the U.S.

Earlier this year, she made the choice to leave, on her own terms.

"I am a very competitive individual and professional, and I do believe that the dreams I have for myself, I don't just get to achieve them here," she said. "I think I have the confidence in myself now that these dreams can be achieved anywhere, while also having the freedom to cross borders without fear, without uncertainty."

Fear is what brought her to the US from her small town in Tamaulipas, Mexico, when she was 12 years old.

Her mother put her on a plane to Fresno to live with relatives after learning she'd been molested by an uncle.

"I was experiencing sexual abuse as a child that was happening from a family member, and that was happening in my home, and I didn't see a different way of staying in my home in Mexico and feeling safe," Patricia said.

That safety also brought guilt for very young Patricia, who was fleeing Mexico alone, without her little brother and sister.

Patricia turned her energy and focus to academics. Her high school teacher, Kristen Norton, describes her as determined and resilient.

"She (Patricia) came to me and said, 'I want to take your English class because you are the hardest teacher. Sign me up.' I mean, that's the kind of student she was. That's how she pushed herself. She was always looking to find the edges and boundaries of herself," Norton said.

That drive and tenacity paid off. Patricia graduated as class valedictorian from McLane High School and set her sights on college.

"Throughout my life growing up, I was reminded that I was undocumented and individuals like me did not go to college," she said. "I was constantly reminded that it was very hard, that my mother in Mexico did not have money, and I was reminded that students like me did not receive financial aid. Knowing that at 15, I said to myself that I need to come up with a brilliant plan then."

"That was kind of my introduction to the struggles that undocumented students faced," Norton said. "She had done all this work, she was the valedictorian, she had done all the sports and all the extracurriculars. Everything you are supposed to do times ten, she had done to be able to go to any school she wants to, and there was only one choice."

Her only option was getting a private scholarship, so she applied to more than 40 and won a full ride to Fresno Pacific University.

She made extra money by cleaning houses during summer break. When she had to leave the dorms, she crashed on friend's couches and worked in the fields picking strawberries.

"The farmworker women in Salinas who were there making hourly wages to help their children, and their families just took me in and were willing to give some of their own crop because they wanted me to be able to finish school, pay for books, and pay for school," she said.

After graduating college, Patricia was finally able to obtain a work permit through the "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals," known as DACA. The policy offers protection from deportation to eligible undocumented immigrants who arrived in the US as children. It does not offer a path to legal residency and must be renewed every two years.

Patricia has been recognized and awarded many times for her professional successes and community leadership.

She was appointed by governors Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom to statewide positions, and up until two weeks ago, she was the regional vice president of community relations at Citibank, teaching financial literacy to people in rural communities.

Patricia's last couple of months have been spent saying goodbye to the many friends she made in the past two decades.

She's been selling off those once indispensable belongings that made her home that safe space she had always longed for.

We asked Patricia what the moment will be like on the plane when she sees the US disappear from view and she finally lands in Mexico, no longer a scared little girl.

"I think it's going to be both beautiful and painful, and I'm ready for both," she said.

Patricia left Fresno just a few days ago. She saw her mother for the first time after 20 years.

In a couple of weeks, she will be attending her younger sister's graduation in person, something she never imagined she'd be able to do.

By the end of summer, she moves to Spain, where she has already been accepted to the master's program for international business and global management at the University of Madrid.

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