Index of past stories
(Country of Origin -Mexico; Nationality – American)
I believe in my heart that if The Dream Act of 2009 passes I will be a fireman with the years to come. With the great support behind me and the will to succeed, I will get my degree in fire science, be a fireman, be a Captain, and someday be the chief of a fire station. I will do whatever it takes to have a successful career for myself but also for my beautiful baby girl and my wife.
(Country of Origin -Venezuela; Nationality – American)
My dream is to be able to go back to school, I want to earn a degree on Occupational Therapy. I like helping others, and I’m sure that I will enjoy this line of work but since I do not have papers, I can’t go to school because I can’t afford it and again, there are no grants or loans for people like us. Both my parents are legal residents now, I am the only one who isn’t. I am constantly reminded that there are obstacles on front of me that I can’t tackle unless the Dream Act passes. I have never been so disillusioned in my life. I have this desire to move forward in life, go back to school, get a job, but my patience is wearing off. I want to be able to help others and follow my life’s path, but I can’t if this Act doesn’t pass. I know there are hundreds of thousands of people like myself out there, who are struggling with this burden everyday and don’t know what to do, all I can say is hang in there, and hopefully our luck changes sooner than later!
I did not attend my graduation for my B.A. since it had no meaning to me. What use is a Bachelor’s degree to an illegal immigrant? My family made fun of me, saying that I killed myself over nothing and now was an educated illegal. Of course, they did not say it directly, but as is accustomed in my culture, you hear it from someone else. That most certainly had an impact, since I had very little support and had spent so many years working forty hours or more a week while juggling 12 units or more of school.
(Country of Origin – _____________; Nationality – American)
How I came to be a medical student from a pre-law student is rather a lengthy story, but in short my mother was in a horrendous car accident during my first semester in college. My mother had severe laceration of the tongue, broken nose, and a major leg injury as well. Through going to the hospital and helping my mom go through the healing process, I got to see some of the positive aspects of being in a health care profession.  I was inspired and from that point on to become a doctor and my current goal is to become a surgeon.
(Country of Origin – ; Nationality – American)
Due to the negligence and malpractice of a single individual, to whom we had entrusted our future and paid out thousands of dollars, the window of opportunity for me and my family to obtain a Green Card became nothing more than a blank wall. Appeal after appeal was filed; there was no use in trying to reopen our case, and we found ourselves approaching an undocumented status as our licenses and other supporting documents approached their expiration date. My grades, high GPA, hundreds of community service hours, and high achievements during my school years meant nothing in the matter. I was to become undocumented regardless of the fact that I alongside my family “got in line” as many immigration opponents say for everyone to do. My entire world came crashing down me.
(Country of Origin – Mexico ; Nationality – American)
I was only three years old when my family arrived to the United States therefore my first memories were established in America. I don’t remember anything from Mexico or even recall crossing the border. I just heard the stories my mother told her friends about our life in Michoacán and the dangerous journey we had when we bravely traveled from Mexico to the United States.
The only home I knew was America. I embraced the American culture and initiated pre-school, went to kindergarten and later on excelled in elementary and in middle school. As a matter of fact I was top graduate in my eighth grade graduation. It was such an honor to hear all the applauses and receive all of the awards. Everyone told me I had a bright future ahead of me and that I was going to attend an extraordinary university and have an admirable career if I kept up my excellent grades in high school.
(Country of Origin – Costa Rica; Nationality – American)
After graduating from high school and not having the chance to attend college, I felt as though I had been compressed into a small box with nowhere to go. It is like being stuck in one place, watching my friends’ lives continue. It has been so frustrating to see my friends grow as students and people, see them fulfill their dreams while I, on the other hand, have been stuck in limbo. If I was given just one chance, one opportunity for a college to see past my legal status and actually acknowledge all the hard work and dedication I put into my academic work all throughout high school, I would take full advantage of that opportunity.
(Country of Origin -Indonesia; Nationality – American)
But luckily, it was around the same time when I got involved with community organizing, and I realized that other members of the community, regardless of documents, suffer from the same systemic injustice. I learned about the world as it is now and the world as I want it to be or as it is ought to be. I found that as members of the community we all possess the political power to stand against injustice and for the betterment of our communities and our lives. This was a novel idea for me, as an undocumented youth who is not able to vote. This brought me back not only the power to dream and imagine, but also the power to take pride in my community and in my country. It gave me great strength knowing that people are with me in my struggles and knowing that the struggles of all marginalized people in the U.S. are my struggles as well.
(Country of Origin -Ecuador; Nationality – American)
I excelled in the Honors courses of my middle school and was accepted into every IB and magnet high school in the county, I choose to attend the magnet science high school that is a top 100 school in the country and is very selective. This is the only public school that has to deal with private school parents complaining that their kids were not accepted. I graduated Top 15% in my class with the highest honors. I was the most decorated student at my graduation because of my leadership, community service and other extra curricular activities.
(Country of Origin – _______; Nationality – American)
I have a great passion for my career and it pains that I cannot work in my profession because of my status. I feel I became a failure because all my accomplishments have been reduced to decorations on a wall. All the potential I have is being wasted every day that I sit here. This situation is forcing me to choose between the country I love with my family or my career in a foreign country. The DREAM Act is the only hope I have left.
(Country of Origin -Peru; Nationality – American)
Just like me, there are thousands of students facing the same obstacles. We consider ourselves American, but are denied the opportunity to attend college and work legally. We don’t want or expect “freebies.” What we want is a chance to prove what an asset we can be to this country we call our home. We want to be the future nurses, doctors, teachers, and engineers that will shape this country’s future and continue to make it great.
(Country of Origin – South Korea; Nationality – American)
So I attended Emory University for three years and studied there for a double major in Biology and Chemistry. As a matter of fact, I have completed my degrees but I am short in a few requirements here and there to graduate. This year all my friends will graduate. I on the other hand will remain reticent and probably feel jealous but that’s all I can do for now since I am a man and men do not cry.
(Country of Origin – Croatia; Nationality – American)
“My fellow peers and I have been living here most of our lives. We are American in every sense of the word. We have accomplished great things even with the difficult obstacles we face everyday. Imagine what we could do if granted legal residency. We could become doctors, nurses, engineers, scientists, teachers, etc. Many of us have the degrees, but do not have a way of using them. And many want to serve this country but are not able to join the military.”
(Country of Origin – Phillipines; Nationality – American)
“I went to UC San Diego for a while, but could not keep up with the payments without financial aid, without access to most scholarships, without being able to legally work, and without being able to take out my own loans. Appallingly, the category of being “undocumented” is all too true and existent, and I actually meet every one of its qualifications. Alas, a category has finally succeeded in capturing me. Being “undocumented” means I cannot work, I cannot drive, I am not given enough resources to further my education, and I fear people will judge me on a status I could not control rather than my character. For the first time in my life, I cannot freely speak out about the injustice I am experiencing out of fear when I desperately want people to know about the struggles of an “undocumented”, and the future to me is full of unfulfilled dreams that have no way of being fulfilled. This is what it means to be in the category of being “undocumented” and I wish to end this labeling.”
(Country of Origin – Mexico; Nationality – American)
“I worked so hard that in 8th grade I was among a select few that took the SAT as part of a gifted program in my middle school. I did well enough to qualify to attend Cranbrook, a private prep school with a sticker price of nearly $35,000 a year. I researched the school and fell in love with its buildings and the promise of a challenging education. This was one of the very first times when I realized that my undocumented status proved to be a scarlet letter of sorts when it came to my education. There was no way my family could afford the costs up front and there was no way I could apply for any financial aid from the school without a SSN. I was incredibly disappointed because I knew I had the merit to attend a school of that caliber and I had the work ethic necessary to succeed. The only thing that was holding me back was my lack of papers.”
(Country of Origin – Senegal; Nationality – American)
“My story, that of brilliant young minds who, after high school, find the gates of higher education, the workforce and the basic American dream shut in their faces because they either crossed a border or overstayed a visa, has already been lived and told by thousands before me. There isn’t a day when my undocumented status doesn’t interfere with my daily life. And, although I can’t take my 3 year old daughter to her ballet classes or my one year old son to his doctors appointments, without my husband in the driver’s seat, I still choose to see the cup as half empty…My parents have been in the USA for 20 years. Since then, they have gone from selling shirts on the streets, working in factories to starting businesses both here and abroad, giving Americans and others jobs, bettering their communities, homeownership, raising four proud Americans and passing down their love, their dedication and undying support of this country to us.”
(Country of Origin – Bangladesh; Nationality – American)
“I was depressed. I felt betrayed. I worked hard in school. I graduated in the top 10% of my class with a 3.8 GPA. Should I be angry at my dad for not hiring a more competent lawyer or at the broken immigration system that is ridiculously slow and ridden with loopholes? I was an American in every way except where it really mattered: documents. I never told my friends because I didn’t know how they would react. After all, it was high school.”
(Country of Origin – Iran; Nationality – American)
“I can’t see myself living anywhere else other than America. All of my childhood memories are from America and it is the only home I have known. Apart from that, I also happen to be gay and if one is at all up to date on their current events, then I am sure you know how unfriendly of a place Iran is for anyone who happens to be LGBTQ. Iran is one of the countries that not only punishes people for being gay but also kills them. Going back to Iran is not even an option for me, and honestly the only difference I see between myself and the next American is $20, two strong cases of legal malpractice and a piece of paper.”
(Country of Origin – Nigeria; Nationality – American)
“This battle is not simply over just a piece of paper, but the things that piece of paper represents. You see, without that piece of paper, living life is simply hard to do. You are suddenly not 100% human, as if humanity is something that can be rationed. Suddenly, your voice is harder to hear, as if expression is something to be looked down on. Your face is ripped of its defining features, as if your identity is something to be erased and forgotten. Slowly but surely, faced with rejection day by day, pieces of your being are torn away, until nothing is left but your body, now an empty shell. Tell me how do you love when love has been denied to you? How do you live when your fate rests in someone else’s hands? How do you laugh when your voice has been silenced? How do you hope when your future seems bleak at best? How do you jump, shout, play, or dance? How do you be when your very being is on trial?”
(Country of Origin – Fiji; Nationality – American)
“With multitudes of identities in this world of constructed binaries and boundaries, I have multitudes of questions. What precisely is my home country? Where do I belong? Why am I being punished for something that was out of my control? Why does this country not consider me equal to the rest of my family? Why can’t I use my postgraduate education to help my family, community and country in these tough economic times? Why can’t I get married to adjust my status? How does deporting me help legal residents and U.S. citizens whom I help every single day?”
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