In 2020, Sharet Garcia launched Undocuprofessionals, a free online mentorship program that connects undocumented mentees with undocumented mentors that have professional careers. Alongside the mentorship program, Garcia uses Instagram to provide information about undocumented opportunities and news nationwide. “I wanted to give back to my community, I knew if I started a platform like this, it would push me to work harder as well,” said Garcia. Garcia, 37, is an undocumented advocate, who became a single mother and head of the household in 2020.
Category: Immigration
Posted inOpinion
COMMENTARY: U.S. Senators introduce DACA bill
The Dream Act of 2023 is just the latest alliteration and has been introduced in the last three sessions of Congress, but similar versions have been introduced – and at one point even passed the U.S. House of Representatives only to never see the light of day in the upper chamber. And while some legislators might say the ninth time’s a charm, others aren’t so convinced, in part because even supporters of granting permanent legal status to DREAMers and others seeking a path to U.S. citizenship complain that legislators constantly use DREAMers in particular as a pawn for greater security measures along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Posted inImmigration
Financial aid access has worsened for California’s undocumented students
The struggle for financial aid has intensified for undocumented students in California, making it even harder for them to access higher education. Learn about the challenges these students face and the potential consequences for their future.
Posted inImmigration
Alexandra Lozano, immigration lawyer helps Latinos in LA and beyond
At age 16, Lozano had an experience in Guatemala during a school field trip that drove her to become an immigration lawyer. Today, she is the Chief Executive Officer of her law firm, Alexandra Lozano Immigration Law PLLC, with offices in five states, including California, Washington and Texas. Recently, Lozano and her team of lawyers at the Alexandra Lozano Immigration Law PLLC offered free Spanish consultations on immigration issues for residents in southeast Los Angeles.
Posted inImmigration
COLUMN: My undocumented father went back to Mexico, making holidays so hard
It has been a little more than a month since I had to say my goodbyes to my father, who left the United States for his hometown in Queretaro, Mexico. The last time I hugged him was on a late-November evening as he entered my cousin’s truck, the car that would take him to the Tijuana airport. “God bless you mija, take care of yourself, and do not be eating too much salt,” he told me as he was getting ready to board the truck. I held his hand and told him not to worry about me. He gave me his blessing and told me that he loved me. What followed was the longest hug I have ever received in my life.
Posted inOpinion
COLUMN: My undocumented father went back to Mexico, took my heart
Ever since I left my hometown in Queretaro, Mexico, building a place that feels like home in the U.S. has been an ongoing task. Today, the idea of home feels even further away because my father, an immigrant who spent almost two decades in the U.S., will be returning to Mexico. He bought a one-way ticket, not knowing that part of my heart will also be boarding the plane with him. Like him, I’m also undocumented, therefore leaving the U.S. legally, or traveling in and out of the country, is not an option for me. I will soon say goodbye to him, not knowing when I will see him again.
Posted inOpinion
COLUMN: When you are the first Latino/a/x
Only around 5 percent of college professors nationwide are Latino/a/x and at CSULB it’s higher around 9 percent. But this is still low when almost half of the student body is Latino/a/x.
Posted inBusiness
JUAN HERNANDEZ, undocumented entrepreneur building a startup company to help others like him
Hernandez’s business provides undocumented students and undocumented immigrants with videos that explain how to make money as an undocumented immigrant, as well as how to apply for DACA for advanced status. In addition, the Prepare website allows users to ask each other anonymous questions and answers them as well.
Posted inImmigration
CALÓ COMMENTARY: End perpetual prison detention of Latino immigrants
Thee VISION Act prevents immigrants from being subjected to perpetual punishment and unequal treatment by prohibiting local and state agencies from conducting immigration arrests and from assisting or facilitating immigration arrests, which includes prohibiting ICE transfers
Posted inJustice
COMMENTARY: End perpetual prison detention of Latino immigrants
Thee VISION Act prevents immigrants from being subjected to perpetual punishment and unequal treatment by prohibiting local and state agencies from conducting immigration arrests and from assisting or facilitating immigration arrests, which includes prohibiting ICE transfers
Posted inPolitics
CAROLINE MENJIVAR, daughter of Salvadorian parents, now a top candidate in State Senate District 20
Menjivar grew up in San Fernanco Valley, where her mother cleaned private homes and her father worked as a waiter at a Studio City country club. Menjivar recalled attending Encino Charter Elementary School, a public school in the high-priced suburb of Encino, CA. She immediately felt out of place, she said. “I was going to an affluent school where my classmate’s homes were big and they had big screen TVs,” Menjivar said. “That’s when I started [wondering] why my classmates had so many cool things, big houses, expensive things and we didn’t? As a kid, you don’t know what all that means. You just know that the inequity doesn’t feel right.”
Posted inagriculture
CALÓ ESSAY: From Bracero to ‘Braincero’
As a “guest” of the American government, my father—Salomón Huerta, Sr.—worked as a farmworker during the early 1960s under the Bracero Program. Officially known as the Mexican Farm Labor Program (1942-1964), this guest worker program recruited 4.6 million Mexican laborers to toil in America’s agricultural fields, along with the railroad and mining sectors.