During Hispanic Heritage Month, we honor the determination that has defined our families and continues building America’s future

When I tell people I’m a first-generation Mexican-American, I often think back to my childhood in El Paso and southern New Mexico. My grandfather came from a farm in Juchipila, Zacatecas, and found a home in Ciudad Juarez, working as a mailman – a cartero. He had a piece of mail he couldn’t deliver — a TV repair manual — and rather than toss it, he taught himself the trade. So, he built a small shop attached to my grandmother’s home. That TV repair shop became the backdrop of my childhood, where I learned what hard work and ingenuity look like. My uncle runs that shop today.

My mother worked long hours in the maquiladora industry working to make ends meet. Through that work, she earned her citizenship, and I became the first in my family born in the United States. That story — of sacrifice, resilience, and hope — isn’t just mine. It is the story of millions of Latino families who have built this country generation after generation.

As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, I am proud to represent one of the largest Latino districts in the United States. Our community is central to America’s story and its future. Today, Latinos make up nearly one in five workers nationwide and power more than $800 billion in small business revenue every year. If our community were its own economy, it would rank among the largest in the world. Latino families are teaching, building, serving, and innovating — shaping the future of America every single day.

Yet even with these contributions, too many families still live paycheck to paycheck, struggling to afford housing, health care, or a dignified retirement. I’ve met workers who leave before sunrise and come home after dark, doing everything they can to give their children a better life. Their perseverance, like my mother’s, fuels our classrooms, small businesses, and neighborhoods.

This Hispanic Heritage Month, we celebrate our roots — but we also look forward. Our story is one of hope, determination, and unity. And as we continue to build this country’s future, we prove again and again what our families have always known: Sí se puede.

(*) Democrat Rep. Gabe Vásquez represents District 02 in New Mexico, which has a 60.90% Hispanic population.

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