Opinion: With Or Without DACA, New York Must Step Up For Immigrant Communities
I came to the United States when I was 14 years old from Ecuador. I came here to join my parents, who had already been in the U.S. for years, having left our home country because they knew they couldn’t earn enough to send my siblings and me to college.
When I arrived, I was undocumented, and I spent my first 12 years in the United States that way.
Since then, I’ve worked extremely hard to build a life here. Despite not being able to access state financial aid and many other types of support that other New Yorkers are able to get, I was able to graduate from college. Now I’ve just started graduate school. And I’m a proud mother and homeowner, contributing every day to our state with my love, sweat, and tax dollars. . .