Stories
Once Undocumented, Mexican Salon Owner Wants to Prove Immigrants Make a Difference
Mexican immigrant Estela Nava has owned a hair salon on the South Side of Chicago for 30 years. Every day she tends to her clients’ needs for haircuts, color treatments, and perms. For Nava, who came to Chicago as an undocumented immigrant at age 17, owning her own business means… Read More
Thanks to DACA, a Young Mother’s Future Opens
When Brenda Acosta Oseguera graduated from her Baltimore high school in 2011, she was trying to choose between two undesirable options. As an undocumented immigrant, she could not receive government financial aid for college. And at the time, undocumented immigrants were also ineligible for in-state tuition at Maryland’s public institutions. Read More
Without DACA, University Graduate Could Wait Decades to Legally Work in U.S.
Marisol Estrada, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, has lived in the United States since she was 5 years old. With a dream to enter the legal profession, she studied hard, choosing at her Savannah, Georgia, high school to take the International Baccalaureate, a two-year, rigorous college preparatory program recognized by… Read More
For Aspiring Doctor, America Only Safe Haven her El Salvadoran Family Knows
When she was in high school, Jennifer Mendez shadowed an interpreter who worked in the pediatric oncology wing of The Johns Hopkins Hospital, and the experience made her decide to become a doctor. “The thought of helping not just children, but also helping their families is what… Read More
For DACA Youth, Top Grades and Hard Work Not Enough
Emmanuel Diaz graduated third in his class at Appling County high school, in Baxley, Georgia, in 2013 – his grades and accomplishments so impressive that he won more than $20,000 in scholarships. This would have made Diaz a prime candidate for admission to the state’s top three schools: The University… Read More
Cherry Farmer to Washington: Give Our (Mexican) Workers Flexibility to Travel
Fifth-generation cherry farmer Dean Devine harvests around 110 acres of cherries on his properties in Modesto and Lodi, in California. He has been in the cherry business for 40 years and knows how important it is to treat the fruit with care. Cherries are one of the most labor-intensive crops. Read More
After Years Without Her Own Son, Peruvian Designer Calls on Washington to Pass the Dream Act
When Flor Cabello was starting her interior-decoration company in Westchester County, New York, she heard the word “no” a lot. Friends said her Peruvian accent and heritage would be off-putting to many of the area’s U.S.-born upper-middle-class residents — that is, her target clientele. Bank after bank refused to give… Read More
Greenville, South Carolina, Chamber Lobbies Congress to Let Dreamers Stay
Carlos Phillips, CEO of the Greenville Chamber of Commerce, says most of his chamber’s 2,200 businesses support federal action to protect Dreamers, the young people eligible for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). These undocumented immigrants — brought to the country as children, raised and educated here — are an… Read More
DACA Recipient Fears Losing Ability to Support Her Younger Siblings
When Blanca Carrillo Salmeron, an undocumented immigrant in Norman, Oklahoma, received protection from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) order in 2013, a year after it was signed, the whole family breathed a sigh of relief. Carrillo Salmeron’s parents were also undocumented, and they had four other… Read More
Iraq War Vet: Immigrants Critical to Fargo’s Growth
Around the 2016 presidential election, when some politicians in North Dakota introduced anti-immigration bills, the Fargo City Council and local business community pushed back. The reason: The city’s economic health depends on new Americans. “We have between 5,000 and 8,000 open jobs in Fargo-Moorhead, and we can’t honestly afford to… Read More
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