- Imagine being in that situation where you've built,
you've built yourself, you've built your career,
you've built a community.
You've built a lot in the past nine years,
but to some extent, you feel like it's not yours
because it can be taken away.
(light music)
I am Mayra Diaz.
I was born in Mexico,
came to the US when I was seven years old
and I've been living here ever since.
Grew up in the Bay Area.
I remember very little from living in Mexico.
But, I do remember being heartbroken
because I was leaving my grandma behind.
She's the one that raised me for a few years
while my mother was living in the US.
And I just remember from that journey,
just being very difficult, like,
knowing at seven years old that I was leaving
and not coming back.
My mom wanted not only the opportunity to survive,
but also opportunities for her children
to be able to have dreams,
to be able to realize some of those dreams.
At that nine years old,
I was already building this other dream of like, okay,
my dream is to be able to help not only my mother,
but parents like my mother who did not speak English.
When the time came and I did well in all my AP classes,
my AP tests, and I would apply to college,
I would have to disclose that I was undocumented.
On those college applications,
I couldn't enter a social security number.
So, that was very different
from the way that other classmates
and friends were experiencing the path to college,
that they didn't have to worry about that.
Throughout high school,
I actually didn't meet a lot of undocumented people.
Or at least, I wasn't aware that they were undocumented.
But senior year in high school, I participated
in the after-school program called College Track.
In that program, we met with mentors
and we met with people that were supporting us
with our academics.
And I remember they gather all the seniors,
talked about the college application,
and it was in that process that I met
one other undocumented student.
And that's when I realized, oh, wow, like, so she and I,
you know, have been coming to College Track all these years
and kind of been sharing similar experiences.
But, it was at that point where I was like, okay,
other undocumented people exist.
But, we weren't talking about it.
Going on into college at UC Santa Cruz,
that's when other students were coming out
and not being ashamed of being undocumented.
Not only were they sharing that they were undocumented,
but they were demanding that students
like us also needed support.
We didn't qualify for federal financial aid.
We didn't qualify for institutional financial aid.
So we were attending college and, you know,
just not having really an idea
how do we pay $60,000 for this college degree.
We also needed resources.
And the colleges needed to change their guidelines.
And they actually needed to better support us
to be able to graduate college.
- These are young people who study in our schools.
They play in our neighborhoods.
They're friends with our kids.
They pledge allegiance to our flag.
They are Americans in their heart,
in their minds, in every single way but one, on paper.
- So when the DACA program was announced,
to me felt like I just can't,
I can't believe that we have reached this point
where now I can apply to, you know,
pretty much request that I receive a work permit.
And that will mean that I will be able
to apply for that social security number.
Health prevention is very important.
And that health prevention also involves working
with immigrants.
It continues to involve translating
for families that are not able to speak the language.
We have people that are already in their careers
as doctors, as attorneys,
for myself as a public health professional.
We're contributing.
We're being of service to people.
But, we wake up every morning knowing that
the DACA program may end.
A permanent solution would mean that we finally can feel
like we belong in a country that we've been growing up,
building our families,
and just, you know, being able to realize a lot of dreams.