All his life, Raul believed he was an American citizen. As a child, he was sent to live with another family in the United States. His Mexican parents believed that to provide him with the most opportunity, he needed to live in America where they said he belonged.

As Raul grew up, he dealt with the hardships that resulted from living with but being ostracized by his aunt and uncle's family. He eventually joined the United States Navy, where he was stationed multiple times overseas. He served for five years and was honorably discharged.

Raul later joined the United States Customs and Border Protection agency, also known as U.S.C.B.P. While trying to immigrate his brother and having been employed by the C.B.P. for eighteen years, he got called into the office while at work. Raul was notified he was under investigation and was instructed to turn in his badge, gun and credentials. Not knowing what was going on, he did as he was told and left for home.

After a month, Raul was called back in and shown a Mexican birth certificate. He was instructed to read it carefully. He saw his name, a different place of birth, and a different birthdate. That was the day everything came down; the façade that was his life and the realization that in the almost three decades he had worked for them, the government had employed an illegal alien and didn't know it.