Kok-Leong Seow
I came to America when I was just six years old. My parents grew up poor and risked so much to move us here with hopes of giving us a better life. My dad is a waiter at a small restaurant, which is enough to put food on the table and clothes on our backs. We pay taxes, abide by all laws, and don’t live on welfare. As for me, I can’t legally work, drive, fly, or have health insurance. I’ve missed out on numerous opportunities because of my situation. Fortunately, I was able to pursue college. Fast forward four years, I have graduated Magna Cum Laude in Computer Engineering from Wichita State University. I was at the top of my class, number one in my major, wrote 2 first-author papers, won research awards, and have a patent pending. Consequently, I was accepted into graduate school at Columbia University. However, due to my status, I’m unable to obtain a stipend to continue my education. Receiving DACA would grant me the opportunity to acquire the funding I need, provide for my family, and master my craft to realize my full potential. But due to the election results, applying for DACA is simply not a favorable option anymore. |
Julia Verzbickis
When I was 9, my family and I moved to United States to find some stability that wasn’t present in our home country. We always had plans to make the move permanent, and the seemingly endless paperwork process began nearly immediately. However, we didn’t know what we were in for. The lawyer we had turned out to be fraudulent, and as a result, my parents, my sisters and I all lost our status in the country. It was the summer before my first year of high school. The future remained unclear, but I made some choices. I chose to keep my grades up in school. I chose to give myself the opportunity at a future. I worked hard. I graduated 28th in a class of 620. I had a 3.6. I got into Rutgers early admission. The week after my twenty-first birthday, I got notice that my DACA application had been approved. Within 12 hours, I’d applied for a social security card, and within a week, I’d filled out dozens of job applications. I got a license, for the first time, ever. In November 2014, I got into Teach For America. I graduated college the following May, cum laude, with a double-major in English and Journalism. In August 2015, I started teaching. DACA gave me my independence back. It’s the single reason I am able to teach, and live on my own, and pay for my car, and feel like I belong in the country I have lived in for 15 years. |
“DACA, quite simply, gave me, and thousands of others the tool we were missing to build our future here.” -Fernando Espino Casas
Fidencio Fifield-Perez
A high school teacher told me, “People like you don’t go to college.” I was accepted to seven colleges after graduating with honors from Emsley A. Laney High School, and I now hold a BFA from Memphis College of Art as well as an MA and MFA from the University of Iowa. In July 2012, I stood in front of the television with tears rolling down my face as I heard Obama enact the controversial executive action after the DREAM Act, a bipartisan bill, failed to reach cloture in the Senate. Even through those tears, I knew that my life and the lives of so many others were at risk, and that most people would never see this. I was the first of my family to graduate from high school. Every undocumented person I knew, other than my two younger brothers, dropped out either because it was expected of them or because a high school diploma meant nothing for the jobs to which they applied. I remember being told to get a job that paid under the table and to keep my head down. This was contrary to what my elementary and high school teachers had told me. “Work hard, and you too can make something of your life.” Of course, they were as unaware of my status as I was of the full repercussions that came with it. DACA legally allowed me to drive and to work without fear of deportation. I began showing my work nationally and internationally. I was able to accept a fellowship to pursue my Master’s. I taught seven undergraduate classes at the University of Iowa. I instructed and befriended your children; I was your partner. In 2015, I graduated with my Master’s and accepted a job at the National Museum of Mexican Art as an educator and art handler. Currently, I am completing an eleven-month residency in Galveston, Texas. Are these words enough for you to acknowledge my existence or my humanity? |
Miriam Ochoa-Garibay
My name is Miriam Ochoa-Garibay, I’m 18 years old and I’m a DACA student currently enrolled at the University of California Riverside. I come from a Mexican background, I was born in the Mexican state of Michoacan but I’ve been living in the United States since I was two. I went to pre-school, kindergarten, elementary, intermediate school and high school in the state of California. I always loved school, I remember being a little girl and getting home from school and the first thing I did was start my homework. I remember that as early as elementary school there was this test called GATE. It was suppose to be the smart kids test and every year I passed it. I remember being an honors student, my parents were very persistent on me getting good grades because that meant a better future. It wasn’t until I got to high school where I realized that maybe it was going to take more than just good grades to go to college. I became really aware that I was undocumented, I became fearful that I wasn’t going to have a “better future” because I was undocumented. I knew that financially my parents weren’t going to be able to pay for college so when DACA came into place, it was a huge relief. There was finally a program that accepted me, an undocumented student. DACA means everything to me. Not only do I have financial aid for my college tuition, but I was granted the opportunity to work legally, to find a job and be able to make money for my needs. DACA has become a reassuring force to many students like myself who’s only desire is to be given an education in order to become a successful factor of this society. I am proud to be Mexican but I’m also proud to be part of America’s great educational system. DACA has given me the opportunity to dream of my own white picket fence one day. |