Each time we drive down the Las Vegas Strip, my father points out the buildings and concrete his labor and sweat helped construct. He's proud of his contributions, and wants me to know how he has helped build up this city. I used to roll my eyes when he said these things, but now I see it differently. Every day during the pandemic he has been an essential worker in the construction industry, risking his life in order to keep a roof over our heads, food on our table and the economy of Las Vegas moving forward. All this, while the Trump administration is trying to deport him and thousands of other Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders.

For more than 20 years, my dad, Donis Hernández, has contributed to the growth of Las Vegas and the United States as a union construction laborer, a taxpayer, a homeowner and a father. Over the next two weeks, voters—especially here in Nevada—will decide whether my father will continue contributing here or be torn away from me and our family, his work, and our home. This election will decide whether my father will be at my high school graduation. 

In February 2001, President George W. Bush granted TPS to my father and others from El Salvador after a catastrophic earthquake struck the country. TPS allows people from designated countries to stay and work in the United States when conditions in their home country make it impossible for them to return safely. For 20 years, subsequent presidents renewed TPS because the conditions in El Salvador had not improved. My dad, along with 400,000 other TPS holders, have followed the law, continuing to re-register while working legally, raising their families and contributing to their communities. I am one of 280,000 children of TPS holders across the country who depend on our parents in order to be able to succeed as students and future community leaders. 

But the Trump Administration—using a process that courts have found racist and arbitrary—terminated TPS for our families. Court challenges have kept our families together so far, but given a second term President Trump will almost certainly keep his promise to break up my family and so many others. Vice President Biden, on the other hand, has promised to protect TPS holders from deportation to dangerous countries and to work with Congress to establish a path to citizenship for our families.

Deporting my father will crush my family and destroy my dreams. It will take away a dependable front-line essential worker and taxpayer. It will similarly affect 4,000 other families and many workplaces in Nevada, and hundreds of thousands of others throughout the United States. Currently almost 90 percent of TPS beneficiaries are working, 130,000 as essential critical infrastructure workers. They contribute $4.6 billion to our economy, and they pay $1.5 billion in taxes.

Like other families, we worry about COVID, but the constant fear of my father being taken away from us makes the situation so much worse. The fear does not keep me from studying hard to prepare myself to contribute to this country. Looming deportation and COVID do not prevent my father from putting his life in danger each day to build Las Vegas and support my dreams. 

Because I'm 16 years old, I can't vote yet. This election, I need you to go out and vote for my family and for the families of 4,000 TPS holders in Nevada. Nevada's electoral votes could be the tipping point in the national election. The polls are close enough that turnout could decide which candidate gets those electoral votes. So, we are counting on every Nevadan who is eligible to vote. Vote for my future. Vote to keep our families together. Vote to keep our essential workers on the job.

Emily Hernández is 16 years old, a student at Equipo Academy. She won Miss Teen El Salvador in 2018, and will compete for the title of Miss Nevada Teen USA in 2021. She hopes to continue on to college and study to become a lawyer in the future.