Stories
Dreamer Could Help Ease South Carolina’s Shortage of Healthcare Providers
Jacqueline Mayorga was born in Hidalgo, Mexico, to poor but hardworking parents. Her mother was a maid in Mexico City, and her father was a migrant farmworker in the United States who sent money home to the family. When Mayorga was 3 years old, her parents decided to reunite the… Read More
DACA Allows Utah Grad To Provide After-School Care for Kids
Karina Palestina, 30, spends her days coordinating after-school care with the Park City, Utah, school district, but she dreams of a studying for a master’s degree in higher education. Holding her back is the uncertainty around Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a 2012 policy that allows qualifying undocumented immigrants… Read More
DACA Soldier With Skills U.S. Needs Is Put on Indefinite Hold
When William Medeiros learned he could join the United States military, he was elated. As an undocumented immigrant — his parents brought him to the United States when he was 6 years old — Medeiros had few options. “I couldn’t work, and to go to school I would have had… Read More
Researcher Works on Children’s Blood Disorders — but Only With DACA
Today, Martin Rodriguez, a 26-year-old undocumented immigrant from Mexico, is a PhD student at Wake Forest University, where he is working on developing gene therapies for pediatric blood disorders. “I believe that fulfillment for any human being is best achieved through service to others,” Rodriguez says. “Helping children born with bleeding disorders is something I can… Read More
Enlisted and Standing Ready, Immigrant Marine Must Wait to Serve His Country
In 2015, John Sena and his twin brother were shocked when their mother explained that the family was undocumented. Then a high school senior in Covington, California, Sena’s dream was to become a U.S. Marine. His brother wanted to join the Navy. Three of their uncles had served, and Sena… Read More
Without DACA, Gifted Linguist Faces Deportation Instead of Law School
When Santiago Tobar Potes was brought to the United States at age 3, he spoke only Spanish. Now 20 and a student at Columbia University, he has become a gifted linguist, teaching himself English, French, Portuguese, Italian, Haitian Creole, and Chinese, and now working on Arabic and Russian. He wants… Read More
Undocumented for Years, Republican Immigrant Runs for State House
Not many brides choose GOP figureheads as their wedding inspiration, but for Brazilian-American newspaper editor, local Republican candidate, and formerly undocumented immigrant Emanuela Palmares, it was a no-brainer. This fall, when Palmares married Connecticut Rep. J.P. Sredzinski, the couple put portraits of Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Jackson on their wedding… Read More
DACA Recipient Wants to Give Her All to Only Country She Knows
In 2012, when Liz Cortez finally got her work permit under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which allows undocumented immigrants brought to the country as young children to legally live and work in the United States, she treated the paper like a massive engagement ring. “I was obsessed… Read More
Dreamers Play Vital Role in Texas Economy
Sergio Ramos was born in Texas and has lived in southeast Texas for more than 60 years. The only sign he is an immigrant is his lingering Spanish accent. As soon as he started studying English in the border town of Harlingen at age 13 — his father went back… Read More
Welcoming Immigrants to Georgia Affirms Basic Values, Reverend Says
To the Reverend James T. Said, rector of Saint Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church in Augusta, Georgia, and a member of the local Progressive Religious Coalition (PRC), advocating for immigration reform is deeply tied to his religion. “The Progressive Religious Coalition believes we should affirm the values of love, justice,… Read More
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