She brings a whole supermarket from the Dominican Republic so I can try all the things,” said Santos Veloz, 32, who can’t leave the United States for an ordinary family visit under DACA.
She hasn’t been back to the land of her birth since moving to the United States when she was 9.
Her grandmother, now 93, said she’s no longer able to make the trip to the United States and this will be her last visit. .
“I’m American because this is the only home that I know,” she said.She appreciates the opportunities she’s had in the United States and with DACA, which she received approval for in 2013.I think I gained like 10 pounds,” she said, laughing.
Link copied to clipboard.“I honestly thought that my presence and other people that were in the courtroom would kind of, somehow make the judges look at us or see us as humans,” she said.“If DACA ends,” she said, “it's kind of like, what am I hoping for?”.Link copied to clipboard.It was supposed to be one of the most exciting times in his life: Freshly graduated from high school with honors and a 3.7-grade point average.He was the son of Nicaraguan immigrants, brought to the United States when he was 5.
“It was such a huge relief,” said Avilez, now 28.His past – fleeing Nicaragua by boat, his mother hiring a "coyote," or human smuggler, to bring them to the United States from Mexico, his friend’s couch – has faded into memory. .Link copied to clipboard.After all, it was a pilot who had brought James to the United States, where he was able to see his mother for the first time in two years.
There, James attended an aviation high school where he studied to become an aviation mechanic – a concession James thought would get him closer to his dream.
James, who graduated from City College of New York and is now in graduate school there, said DACA “has not been enough and was never enough.”.Link copied to clipboard.Instead, her parents – who had relocated to Florida two years earlier – were denied reentry into the United States when they tried to come home to their children. .
“We were starting from zero,” Gabriella Fernandez said.Armed with a Social Security number and shielded from deportation, she graduated high school and earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Central Florida, graduating magna cum laude?“That goal only exists because DACA exists,” she said.Link copied to clipboard.Lopez, the son of Mexican immigrants who was brought to the United States when he was 5, had obtained DACA, graduated high school with honors, worked in sales, then started a business buying and selling cars.“I was given only half an American dream,” said Lopez, 28.Today, in Mexico City, Lopez teaches English and runs Dream Teach, an initiative to help other DACA recipients who have returned to Mexico land good jobs there.Though he misses some things in the United States, like his favorite Indian restaurant, Lopez said DACA was too fickle to live with. .Link copied to clipboard.Link copied to clipboard.It was the first time Medina-Balcazar would be leaving the mainland United States in more than 20 years. .
She applied for DACA after high school.
Link copied to clipboard.His mother brought him to the United States from Guadalajara, Mexico, when he was 7.
With his work permit, Gonzalez got a full-time job as a community liaison at a public high school in Stockton.Link copied to clipboard.But was this the life for her? As an undocumented high school student, her options were limited.
“I thought, ‘I’m going to be like this for the rest of my life,’” Hamadna said.Link copied to clipboard.Share this story.As a high school student, Jose Covarrubias was offered the opportunity of a lifetime: travel to Italy for a soccer trial.He was undocumented, and if he left the United States he wouldn’t be allowed to return home to his mother, his friends or his high school. .
Covarrubias was born in Tamaulipas, Mexico, and came to the United States when he was about 2 years old.He wanted to be the first in his family to go to college, but didn’t know that DACA recipients couldn’t receive federal financial aid.
Link copied to clipboard.Share this story.Hamdi was born in Casablanca, Morocco, and brought to the United States by her parents when she was 5.Link copied to clipboard.Share this story.Min Hee Cho, 25, a network planning analyst, was able to help them buy a townhome in the suburbs of Chicago through an aid program for DACA recipients.“It's very wishful thinking,” said Cho, who is a DACA recipient.Cho, who lives in Chicago, learned she was undocumented in seventh grade, as her older sister was heading into high school.She had been in the United States since she was 4 after her family immigrated in 2001. .
She wants Congress to create a pathway for DACA recipients and other undocumented immigrants.
Link copied to clipboard.Share this story.Jonathan graduated high school with decent grades.Link copied to clipboard.Share this story.For Cesar Rodriguez, DACA was “the missing piece” to his life in the United States. Rodriguez said he, his brother and their parents, who came to the United States from Mexico, all happily pay taxes to support government programs for which they aren’t eligible as undocumented immigrants. Even if DACA is declared illegal, Rodriguez said he isn’t giving up on making it in the United StatesLink copied to clipboardShare this storyOriginally from Cuauhtémoc in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, Gallegos came to the United States in 2001 when he was 12Link copied to clipboardShare this storyDACA helped Rita Castañon feel like her high school classmates in her hometown of Morristown, Tennessee: she was able to get a job and a driver’s licenseShe wasn’t eligible for Tennessee Promise, a state program that offers a tuition-free community college education, and she lives in a state where DACA recipients pay out-of-state tuition at state colleges, multiple times the in-state fee
Castañon, 24, came to the United States from Mexico when she was 6“It united the whole community,” she saidLink copied to clipboardShare this storyTessa Hong Flight felt useless when she couldn’t obtain her driver’s license along with her friends in high schoolHer mother brought her to the United States from China in 2003 when she was 11
It hasn’t been the only change DACA brought to her life
Link copied to clipboardShare this storyGonzalez, 21, came to the United States from Mexico at the age of 4 in 2006
Link copied to clipboardShare this storyOriginally from Puebla, Mexico, Guzman had been living in the United States without legal status since her mother brought her to the country when she was 9Obama’s DACA announcement brought tears to her eyesAs a DACA holder, Guzman was able to apply for “advance parole” – permission to temporarily leave and return to the United StatesLawyers strongly advised Guzman against leaving the United States
Link copied to clipboardShare this storyRathbone Ramos, a 26-year-old DACA recipient, was born in Mexico City and came to the United States at the age of 9senators, from Republicans John Cornyn and Ted Cruz to Democrats Dick Durbin and Bob Menendez, to advocate for immigration reform, including a path to citizenship for DACA recipients
She knows DACA’s limitations and the opposition immigrants face in the United States, but she also sees it as a land of hope
Link copied to clipboardShare this storySam Murillo got straight As, participated in extracurricular activities and took every Advanced Placement class available at her high school in Jeffersonville, IndianaShe had been awarded a full ride to Trinity Washington University in Washington, D.C., from TheDream.US, a college access program for DACA recipients
Link copied to clipboardShare this storyLink copied to clipboardShare this storySince arriving in the United States from the Palestinian territories at age 5, Kalbouneh has done all the right thingsShe stayed out of trouble, got good grades, graduated high school and received DACA at 18
She spent the next few years working odd jobs – at the Edible Florist and Starbucks – then stumbled upon TheDream.US, a group that provides scholarships to DACA recipientsLink copied to clipboardShare this story
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