'I Am Here to Give a Better Life . . . to Immigrant Children'

People from across the country are arriving for the inauguration of America's first black president. Who are these people? In their stories is a portrait of a nation. One in a series.

Since leaving Guatemala to come to the United States at age 27, Hilda Esteban hasn't taken a journey quite this long. She is leaving her little North Hollywood, Calif., apartment and coming to Washington.

Esteban will take four vacation days from her hospital cleaning job to see Barack Obama's swearing-in ceremony on the U.S. Capitol steps. The January cold does not worry her. This is such a big moment, especially for immigrants, "los immigrantes," she said, switching from Spanish to English sometimes for emphasis, sometimes to be better understood.

"Yo voy a ir por avion [I am coming by airplane]," she said. She will go someplace she rarely goes, Los Angeles International Airport, where some members of her immigrant advocacy group, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, or CHIRLA, will meet her for the flight.

Years ago, Esteban, 44, became a legal resident, but she has never before come to see someone take the presidential oath. Truth is, Esteban said, she at first hoped that it would be Hillary Rodham Clinton. Clinton is a woman. Esteban is a woman. Plus, she said, "Ella tiene la experiencia," echoing Clinton's primary campaign slogan that she was the more experienced candidate.

But Obama won her over with his oratory and some things he said about the rights of immigrants. The way Esteban heard it, he said that everyone deserves a decent wage, a decent job, a path to citizenship. If she heard him say anything about protecting the borders and keeping illegal immigrants out -- which he did -- she doesn't recall it.

The slice of hope she took from the Obama campaign was the immigrant piece. The way he reached out in Texas. The "Si Se Puede" -- Yes We Can -- chant that grew louder and louder as the campaign went on, drowning out John McCain, who, like Obama, supported comprehensive immigration reform.

Esteban joined CHIRLA three years ago to fight for immigrant rights. She favors reform that gives hard-working Latinos like her, as well as Koreans and others, the right to become an American.

"I miss my country," she said, in English. "But I love this country. This is mine now." She has raised two daughters, one 21, the other 19, both legal residents, she said.

One daughter has two jobs, working in a hospital kitchen and a fast food joint, and the other is studying to become a nurse. With her daughters in mind, Esteban is not waiting for Obama to get comfortable in office. She and a group of about 20 CHIRLA members will join other immigration activists to demonstrate for rights.

"In Guatemala, I have my father and my brothers. I don't go back," she said. She will watch her Guatemalan president take his oath of office in her country. "I am here to give a better life to my daughters, to immigrant children. I want to give them hope and opportunities."