Stories
After Leaving Extreme Poverty in Mexico, Student Dreams of American Citizenship
Had she not come to America, Monica Alcaraz would have faced a life of extreme poverty in Guanajuato, Mexico. The youngest of 16 children, she often didn’t have enough to eat. So when her older sister married a U.S. citizen and moved to Texas in 1986, Alcaraz—then four years old… Read More
Texas Social Worker Sees Valuable Talent Stifled Without DACA
As a social worker, Bere Hernandez helps people in her community reach their full potential. As an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, she knows how many obstacles the foreign-born can encounter. “Immigrants are often seen as individuals who need to be rescued,” says Hernandez, who received her master’s degree in social… Read More
U.S. Could Deport the STEM Grads it Desperately Needs
American companies need young people like Cesar Guzman, a mechanical engineering student at the University of Texas at El Paso. U.S. employers are already struggling to find qualified workers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields; in 2016, there were more than 12 STEM jobs posted… Read More
Dallas DACA-Recipient Works to Improve His Community
Alex Medrano was 11 years old when his mother brought him to the United States from Mexico in search of a better education, an opportunity Medrano fast took advantage of. By his sophomore year of high school, he was taking college classes, and by graduation he had 62 hours of… Read More
On News of DACA’s End, College Dreamer Turns College Drop-Out
In September 2017, Cristian Olivares was ready to start his freshman year of college. He had registered for business classes and signed a lease for an apartment. Then he learned that the Trump administration was ending Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA), the 2012 policy that temporarily defers deportation and… Read More
Dreamer Forced to Shelve Plan to Use IT Skills to ‘Protect Our Troops’
Axel did not know he was an undocumented immigrant until he started high school. His parents had brought him and his brother to the United States from Guatemala when he was 6 years old, and, as he got older, the Sioux Falls resident assumed he had the same rights as… Read More
Without DACA, South Dakotan Will Lose Chance to Fill Critical Healthcare Role
Mario Gonzalez is on the front line of emergency care at North Kansas City Hospital. A cardiac sonographer, Gonzales conducts ultrasounds of patients’ hearts. It is a critical diagnostic tool for cardiologists, and trained health technicians like Gonzales are in high demand as an aging population across the United States… Read More
DACA Engineer and Homeowner Seeks Protection for His Family
Cesar Rodriguez is an accomplished 24-year-old. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, works full time as a design engineer, owns two homes, in Nashville, Tennessee, and does volunteer work with young people. But next year, unless Congress takes action, Rodriguez could be forced to leave his job, his… Read More
Maine Dreamer: ‘People Should Not Be Living in Fear in America’
“EM,” a young immigrant brought to the United States from El Salvador at the age of 3, has been living in fear since the Trump administration announced in September 2017 that it would phase out DACA unless Congress takes action. “If something happens and I’m deported, I would not go… Read More
Dreamer: ‘They Are Going to Throw Us Somewhere and Not Care’
For now, Sara Hamdi works the delivery counter at a Dayton, Ohio, Olive Garden. But the 27-year-old undocumented immigrant dreams of going back to school, studying business, and one day opening her own restaurant. “I’d like to bring some heart into this world, and I feel like food brings a… Read More
Make a contribution
Make a direct impact on the lives of immigrants.
