Laura Meza and Livy Lazaro
Laura Meza (LM): I remember Rambo movies and GI Jane, and all the like special forces and all that, and I just ‘Those guys are so cool.’
Livy Lazaro (LL): Yeah,
LM: I wanna be like that.
LL: Yeah.
LM: So I definitely wanted to do something kind of heroic and represent the country and go and serve.
LL: Yeah. I signed up one year before I ever graduated, and I left at 17. I’m really proud of my service but Iraq is heavy. It was, ooh, something else.
LM: Yeah.
LL: When you came home from war, what was life like?
LM: I was trying to deal with the trauma. I didn’t know how to stomach that. I started drinking heavily. You’re just trying to forget about everything. And when I’d get home in the morning, you know, lay down, go to sleep, I remember my daughter sometimes come in, ‘mom, can you take me to the park?’ and I love my daughter so much, but I couldn’t get up.
LL: Did you know it was possible for you to get deported?
LM: No, I didn’t even think about that. I thought if you go to combat, you become an automatic citizen. But I had been in and outta jail. And the deporting charges was, uh, possession of marijuana and attempted robbery. They flew me out with shackles on the arms, on the hands on the feet and chains.
LL: How did you feel when you first got to Costa Rica?
LM: Um, like I had fallen in through a black hole and I was in no man’s land. I felt worthless. Like you’re some trash. Go.
LL: Were you lonely?
LM: Of course. I mean, without the family you feel lost. I kind of felt like, ‘God, oh, I need a miracle.’ This is what I’m gonna be praying for.
LL: I remember hearing of your story and I said ‘we have a woman army combat veteran and she’s deported?’ That could’ve been me.
I mean, our journey is the same. Our military service. Our combat experience. Losing ourselves afterwards because of those things. I have the mugshots, the records, I have all of it but the deportation.
It just became my mission to bring you back. I’m not a lawyer, but I’m loud, and I’m a leader. I said like no, I cannot leave my sister out there.
LM: And I thank you so much for doing that for me, Livy.
LL: We leave no one behind, remember.
LM: Yes
LL: And wanting to help you started healing me. It’s taught me how to have some grace with myself.
How did you feel when you first came back to the U.S.?
LM: I was walking on clouds. As soon as I got outta the plane, oh God. I hugged everybody. My mom, my dad, my daughter Jasmine. And my beautiful grandbaby, that’s the most beautiful little girl in the world.
And so I wanna stay here. Definitely. The biggest fear I have is leaving my family again, especially my granddaughter. And I have faith and pray and hope that God’s going to pull me through here and I’m staying.
BACK ANNOUNCE:
That’s Laura Meza and Livy Lazaro in Bethesda, Maryland.
Their interview is archived at the Library of Congress.
