{"id":26335,"date":"2016-01-28T15:45:43","date_gmt":"2016-01-28T21:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=26335"},"modified":"2016-01-28T15:55:19","modified_gmt":"2016-01-28T21:55:19","slug":"immigrant-mother-of-deceased-veteran-fights-to-keep-family-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/immigrant-mother-of-deceased-veteran-fights-to-keep-family-together\/","title":{"rendered":"Immigrant mother of deceased veteran fights to keep family together"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Hannah Rank<\/strong><\/p>\n

Olivia Segura remembers it in bits and pieces. The before and after. Everything before hearing the news is clear and chronological. Everything after is hazy and nightmarish.<\/p>\n

[Listen to Olivia Segura tell her story below.<\/em>]<\/p>\n

\u201cThey asked me if I had any sickness, if my heart was okay,\u201d she recalls. \u201cI knew that something had happened but I never expected that she was going to be dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was Veterans\u2019 Day in 2007 when Segura heard the news that her daughter, Ashley Sietsema, had died while on active duty in Kuwait. She and her husband Alberto had the day off and were unpacking groceries when the doorbell rang and a military officer was at the door.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t believe it,\u201d Segura says. \u201cI almost passed out.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Segura, originally from Mexico City, has been in the U.S since she was 16 and considers Chicagoland her home. She became a U.S. citizen after she was naturalized through her first marriage. Alberto, who helped raise Ashley since she was four years old and who is the biological father of Segura\u2019s 21-year-old son, Kyle, is not a citizen. Alberto has been attempting to gain citizenship for years, but has been denied because of two non-violent felony drug convictions dating back more than a decade.<\/p>\n

At first, Segura saw her husband\u2019s blocked path to citizenship as a mistake that would be easily fixed. She thought surely the government wouldn\u2019t treat a family member of a U.S citizen and active service member like that. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhy? Because it\u2019s not possible that they put their citizens through this. It\u2019s not possible that they would leave U.S. kids without parents,\u201d Segura says.<\/p>\n

\"Ashley
Ashley Sietsema’s military photo. (Courtesy of Olivia Segura)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Segura\u2019s description of her daughter\u2019s path to joining the military echoes many tales told by mothers of U.S. veterans of the Iraq war. After seeing the events of 9\/11 unfold, Ashley, who was born and raised in Melrose Park, began to express an increased patriotism and staunchness about the tenets of U.S. democracy.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy daughter started talking about things like \u2018freedom is not easy. Democracy is not easy,\u201d Segura says. \u201cSo her whole mentality changed. Something changed inside of her.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ashley became more mobilized to make a change. She grew to admire those soldiers fighting a war to protect everything she held close as a U.S. citizen. <\/p>\n

In contrast, Segura was against the Iraq war. When her daughter was a sophomore and sought to join the national guard and, eventually, deploy to the Middle East to fight, Segura was obstinate in her refusal. This didn\u2019t deter Ashley.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I tried to use my power as a mother and you know, kind of say \u2018oh I\u2019m sick, you make me sick\u2019 this and that \u2013 nothing worked,\u201d Segura says.<\/p>\n

Segura finally warmed to the idea when her daughter assured her she wouldn\u2019t see any front-line combat in her post as nurse\u2019s aid in the medical battalion. Segura was still against the idea, but took comfort knowing that she would be in a safer climate. <\/p>\n

Ashley deployed in early September of 2007, just before her 20th birthday. That November, she was driving an injured soldier from one military base to another when her vehicle rolled over and hit a pole. <\/p>\n

The following days after Ashley was returned to her family\u2019s town of DeKalb were a swarm of media, and family and friends rallying in grief. Segura remembers barely knowing anyone at the funeral, which brought in a large portion of the town as well as then Lieutenant Gov. Pat Quinn. She found the service overwhelming, seeing all those strangers who came to support her and her family. <\/p>\n

After the intense fanfare of the funeral, Segura became more and more isolated in grief. She describes her friends growing wary of her emotional outbursts and erratic behavior. Segura says she did not seek professional help, nor was she offered it, for a few years after Ashley\u2019s death. She says it had to do with pride, but also because she was still in denial of her daughter\u2019s passing. <\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe for a lot of people \u2013 they didn\u2019t know my daughter or anything like that \u2013 she was just another soldier. She was just another person. But for me, she was my everything.\u201d <\/p>\n