DREAMer Shares Her Story as an Aspiring American

By Félix Pérez, Education Votes

Julieta Garibay wells up with emotion when she recounts her journey of being brought at the age of 12 to the United States with her mother and sister to escape an abusive father. Fast forward to present day, when the aspiring new American sat in the U.S. Capitol this month as a guest of her member of Congress to hear President Barack Obama deliver the State of the Union.

Teachers are not only at the forefront when they hear [a student say], ‘I am undocumented,’ and they don’t know what to do, but also because I’m sure they face many of the students whose parents are getting deported. . .

The first time I told someone that I was undocumented, it was my ESL teacher and then my counselor. . . I think they both felt troubled that they couldn’t figure out how come this student who is an honors student and who has received recruitment letters from Yale could not go to college.

This article was first published in Education Votes.

Félix Pérez is senior political writer at NEA.