Teresa Reyes Trujillo's Immigration Records (complete A-file)

Teresa Reyes Trujillo's Immigration Records (complete A-file)

Teresa Reyes Trujillo's immigration records, collected in her A-file

Teresa Reyes Trujillo's A-file, archived at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), is a compilation of documents she submitted to the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) beginning in 1971, more than six decades after she came to the U.S. from Mexico as a child. Trujillo provided these materials, including baptismal records for herself and her American-born children, school records, and proof of land owndership, to the INS as part of a laborious process to gain legal status. Trujillo's first effort was unsuccessful, but after she supplemented her application with additional information, the INS approved her "lawful permanent status" on July 20, 1972. The A-file doesn't reveal what specifically prompted Trujillo to launch this effort, but it shows that it took years to complete and required her to gather a wide range of materials from both side of the U.S.-Mexico border. In all, the pages in the A-file show an outline of Trujillo, with glimpses of her education, family, and spiritual life.

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)

U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

1940-1972

Public Domain

English, Spanish

Government records