- I would ask the Supreme Court justices to take notice
of what DACA recipients and immigrant families
are doing across America,
especially during this pandemic, to keep our country moving.
[somber piano music]
The whole reason that I pursued a career in medicine
is because I think back to
what it was like
to grow up in America as an immigrant,
as an [undocumented] immigrant,
not having access to health care.
[intense piano music]
For me, the DACA program has been a game-changer
in first opening the doors for me to be able to
enter medical school.
[crowd chanting]
I remember being inside the hallways of the Supreme Court
and hearing those outside chanting, you know,
'Undocumented,
unafraid.'
We showed up and we reminded the Supreme Court justices
that this is our lives that they are deciding about.
[crowd chanting]
Being there that day
with the thousands of people that showed up on the steps,
I was really reminded that
it's not just us who's in the fight.
[crowd chanting]
We have been allowed certain opportunities
through the DACA program.
And for the government to suddenly decide
to take that
program away,
it is also, as an extension, taking away those opportunities
and those liberties.
That is what we're arguing.
I am a part of a mixed-status family, so
some folks in my family are undocumented,
have DACA status, as well, so
we are all oscillating between
stress and anxiety and feeling ok at times based on
all the political uncertainty that goes on.
[gentle music]
My family decided to move
to America
to really follow the American Dream,
the search for a better future.
My parents really sacrificed a lot
in terms of starting over.
I really looked to education and school at that point
as my own key
and path
to the American Dream.
When I graduated medical school, it wasn't just me,
you know, it was very much
my family graduating medical school with me
because they have been through the trenches with me.
For me,
health care is a human right,
and for marginalized communities, including
immigrant communities, undocumented immigrants,
but also homeless folks and just working-class communities,
everybody deserves the right to have access to health care.
It is because I have been marginalized
and I know what it's like to not have access to care
that I very much understand the barriers
for immigrant communities.
And that is what I use to
guide my work
and guide the work that needs to happen
to improve the system.
[gentle music]