TIJUANA, Baja California — From his Tijuana home, Javier Salazar Rojas has been painting pictures of the broken United States immigration system.
He says it's easy to paint images he’s already experienced first-hand. Rojas came to the U.S. as a baby and grew up in Oakland, at 11-years-old he found out he was undocumented.
“I couldn’t wrap my head around why I was considered illegal at 11 years old,” said Rojas.
He's been using his art as a platform to talk about immigration issues, even giving representation to deportees who feel like they don’t belong in Tijuana.
Painting has helped Rojas cope with the trauma of being deported himself.
He told CBS 8 in 2014, he stole money from a store to help provide for his family.
After serving time in jail, he was deported and now he's been living in Tijuana, away from his wife and kids since then.
“Towards the end of my sentence, I served it as a wildland firefighter with Cal-fire. I did three full fire seasons working for them as an inmate. And they still deported me. It’s like double punishment. And it’s not just me going through this. It’s also my family,” said Rojas.
Like other deportees, Rojas has dealt with the anxiety of being separated from his family. Living in Mexico, he’s struggled to adjust.
“You get targeted here, the police find out you’re deported and you get the target for extortion. They know that you have family on the other side. And you get targeted,” said Rojas.
One of the themes of Rojas' art is the idea, “Ni de aqui, ni de alla,” the phrase translates to, “Not from here or there.”
Rojas says he acknowledges the mistake he made, when he paints—–he shows that he can blend the rules but not break them.
“Sometimes a picture can convey more than what words can,” said Rojas.
He's hoping the images he paints on his canvases can help shed some light on what immigrant families have to go through just to reach the American dream.
“I use my art platform to convey my political message, which is the need for immigration reform.”
Rojas is currently working with immigration lawyers from the U.S. to see if his case can someday get processed.
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