Meet Gabby S. Mercer
If someone were to write the most inspirational American immigrant success story about a young woman determined to come to America and succeed, Gabby Saucedo Mercer’s personal story would be at the top of the list.
Gabriela, or Gabby to her friends, was born in Mexico but decided to lawfully immigrate to the United States upon marrying her husband, Ted Mercer in 1986. The question of leaving her own country to forge a new life in the United States was not a simple choice. Gabby did not speak English, but she was determined to move to the land of freedom and opportunity.
As a legal immigrant to America, Gabby applied for U.S. citizenship, took all the appropriate tests, and five years later, she earned her United States citizenship, while at the same time becoming proficient in the English language.
As a legal immigrant who came to America and followed all the applicable rules and regulations, Gabby is quite aware of the complexities of current U.S. immigration policy since she has experienced all the bureaucratic procedures every legal immigrant currently undergoes when applying for U.S. citizenship.
While strongly advocating immigration reform to streamline the entry process for those wishing to become U.S. citizens, Gabby strongly opposes any form of amnesty, which currently masquerades by the name of “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” in bills before Congress. Gabby considers that the waiving of our immigration laws through such legislation would be seen as a reward for criminal behavior. For this reason she strongly opposes any law that would do so.
Nevertheless, Gabby strongly supports the re-institution of the guest worker “Bracero” program that successfully operated in The United States from 1945 until 1964. This program allowed workers from South of the border, mostly Mexican citizens, to come to the United States to work on farms and assist American farmers gathering their crops to bring food to market. The Bracero program helped everyone – it provided U.S. farmers with the hard working laborers they needed to pick their crops, and it provided Mexican laborers with the opportunity to earn much higher wages than they would have been able to earn doing the same work in Mexico.
As for those who have come over our U.S. borders illegally, Gabby favors a humane process of self-deportation through the removal of all forms of subsidies currently granted to illegal immigrants. All favored treatment for illegal entry into our country should end, as none of these benefits are freely available to other citizens of the United States. By providing such benefits for those who have knowingly violated our immigration laws, Gabby believes that we are creating two classes of citizen, a concept that is effectively banned by the U.S. Constitution and all legal rulings that emanate from this principle.
Gabby currently resides in Tucson with her husband of 37 years, Ted Mercer. They are the proud parents of 3 adult children and they have 4 grandchildren. Juliana , their daughter, is an Iraq and Afghanistan War Veteran, having served for 16 years in The United States Marine Corps, an achievement which speaks highly of the Mercer’s home environment and the American values they have instilled in their children.