While at Austin High School I joined Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) where I excelled under the leadership of a great teacher, LT. Colonel James L. Walker. However, during my junior year, I was very scared that my dream of attending college would not come to pass, since I was an unauthorized American!  Nevertheless, my story was a bit different than many of the other “Dreamers” since my Legal Permanent Resident father had submitted an immigration petition for me back in 1994, before the immigration laws changed in 2001.  Thus, after 8 long years of waiting, in May 2002 I was granted my Legal Permanent Resident Card (Green Card) which meant that I could attend College!!!  I was the first in my family to graduate from High School and attend College on a full scholarship.  I graduated from Berea in 2007 with a B.A. in Mathematics.  Then in 2008, although in my heart I already felt “American,” I finally became a U.S. Citizen on paper!  I am now a register voter and have a well paying job in Huntsville, Alabama.

My immigration story is one that is not unique. Many other people have taken similar steps to come to the United States, what is different is that I was able to get into a “line”, I was able to legally change my status from unauthorized to authorized.  However, nothing else about me changed because I was already an American in my heart.  As a U.S. citizen and as a voter, I am trying to get Congress to modify the immigration system so that others, like me can, get the same opportunities. So that those unauthorized Americans students can stop being afraid, so that they can achieve their dreams, and like me be able to give back to our adopt motherland, as much if not more, than what she has given to us, and so that little girls and boys can sleep at night without fear of being torn apart from her Daddy or their Mommy.  We need a fair and just immigration system that keeps families together, that provides an earned path to citizenship for as many people as possible and one that does not take decades to achieve.

I am an Indian citizen. In India I worked as a nurse educator for 4 years. In 2008 while I was still in India, I got a job offer to work as a Registered Nurse, from ********* ******, one of the best hospitals in US. As for a nursing job an RN is the requirement not a BSN (Bachelors of Nursing) most hospital nursing jobs are open to both Bachelors level candidates with a 4 year degree and Diploma of nursing candidates with 3 years of nursing education. This makes most of the foreign educated nurses ineligible for H1B visa (which requires a 4 year Bachelors as its requirement). Thus my employer applied for my Green Card under EB3 category. I am still waiting for my priority date to come current. Even though I have a valid offer I can only dream of working at ********* ****** Hospital because of my country of origin. I guess any IT engineer who studied from an average university in India and has average credentials is luckier than me though I went to one of the best nursing schools of India and was among top 10% of my class.

In 2010, I came to US to do Masters in Nursing from School of Nursing, the University of **********, which is the best nursing school in US. Getting into the school is so competitive that I guess I am first Indian student to get into the school. Even more when you are coming from a developing country which is light years behind in healthcare vs. USA. As of now very few hospitals are willing to sponsor my H1B visa as they are confused about the visa categories, fear the waiting times, confuse work visa process with Green Card process, not willing to put in the extra effort etc. So the job search is very hard. For a reference point, I contacted around 300 nursing recruiters on LinkedIn in a week, and approximately 40% of them got back to me and were impressed by my resume and were interested, but as soon as I would tell them I needed H1B sponsorship they all backed up.

I finally found an employer interested in March, 2013 but before I could apply, H1B numbers dried out (within the 1st week of April). Because, I am not in STEM category I got a significantly shorter time to search for a job (12 months vs 29 months), and if CIR provides a chance to STEM students to have GC stapled to their F1, non-STEM candidates are again left in the lurch.

I surely could have gone back to India, worked for few years and come back whenever my EB3 priority date would get current. But, I met a very nice guy and ended up marrying him. Now my husband is working on H1B so as an H4 dependent spouse I cannot work and I, cannot go back to India. Why is no one concerned about the strain on a woman when she has to choose between career and family.

I hope my situation will highlight that professionals who are willing to make a difference and are perfectly capable of doing so are devoid of opportunities out of no fault of their own. I am not sure if I am entitled to say that I should be able to work, but I can safely say that I can be a very enthusiastic, eager and hard working employee. Why should I face artificial barriers to work while so many employers are interested in hiring me. Why can I not start working as an RN, Nurse Educator or Clinical Nurse Specialist and start using myself and contribute to healthcare. Why can I not start a company or do something innovative. Why am I in bounds while I am so ready to take the next step.

When I was 16, the military forced me to join the military but I refused because they had been killing indigenous people, my people. So with the help of my father, I fled Guatemala for the United States and applied for political asylum soon after I arrived.

In the 15 years that passed while I was waiting for my asylum application to be processed, I met and later married my wife Juana and we had two children, Jennifer who is 9 years old, and Kevin who is 5. They are both US citizens.

Jennifer is a good girl, very well behaved and loves to read. Kevin enjoys being with me, riding his bike and loves going to school. I think he would go to school on the weekends if he could.

Everything was going well until May 20^th, 2009 when ICE came to the casino where I was working as a dealer, at that moment I was dealing a game of Texas Hold’em, and detained me because my asylum application had been denied. It was 9pm, I had spent that afternoon having a picnic with my family at a local park and then all of a sudden I was in a jail cell, was made to sign documents so that my children wouldn’t be placed in foster care and spent the next two and a half months bouncing from detention centers in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, where unspeakable things happened, it was a very awful place, and finally to Texas where I was deported back to Guatemala.

Within days of landing back in Guatemala, I started the journey alone back to the US to recover my family and settle our affairs.

At the border between Mexico and the US, I met two coyotes who seemed like nice people and offered to take me and others across the border and through the desert to the US. Things quickly went downhill. While crossing, the coyotes started behaving very aggressively, making threats and trying to rape some of the women in our group. I had to carry the two year old daughter of another woman for days because she was too tired to walk and another young woman fell and dislocated her arm but I was able to pop it back in and put her arm in sling.

By the third day in the desert, we were lost, out of food and out of water. It was so hot, my throat was very dry, my lips chapped and people in our group were starting to hallucinate. Out of desperation, I called 911 and we were all rescued.

Afterwards, while in detention in Arizona, the government asked me to be a material witness in the case against the traffickers and I spent three months in jail waiting to testify. My lawyer was able to secure me a temporary visa and I was finally reunited with my family in Connecticut. I am currently fighting in immigration court to prevent being separated from my family for a second time.

These past 4 years have been very hard on my family. My daughter Jennifer was traumatized and became very depressed after my detention. My son Kevin is experiencing developmental delays and is in treatment with a psychologist, a speech therapist and other doctors. My wife and I have also been very traumatized and depressed by this ordeal. I’ve suffered flashbacks and other symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I have nightmares of being separated from my family and my feelings of stress and anxiety have only escalated since the start of my removal proceedings because my worst fear, being separated from my family, may become a reality again.

I have been living in the United States for 20 years. I pay taxes. I make positive contributions to this country.

It is my hope that immigration reform would pass this year so that no family would have to go through what my family has had to endure and that we could again be at peace in this land that we call home.

I’m from Chicago, graduated with an MBA and moved to NYC. I met and married an educated, goal-oriented man from Mozambique, Africa. We now have a one-year-old daughter and have been trapped by the unfair laws of immigration.

My husband initially came to this country legally on a Fiancée visa of someone else. The relationship fell through and they never married. The law says that he must return to his country but after listening to bad legal advice, my husband overstayed his visa and now has a 10 year ban. He didn’t become aware of his ban until after we met and started a family. So how could he return to his country now leaving his wife and small child?

He wants to be successful and pay taxes, but can’t. He wants a way to adjust his status and be looked at as “normal” among the rest of us, but can’t. He began working, but as of recent he was cruelly accused of a crime he DID NOT commit. The charge was a felony and because of the immigration laws in NYC, if I posted his bail he would be sent to immigration court and most likely detained and deported. So to avoid this, he stayed in jail for 2 months until the case was resolved. After being released he lost his job, we lost all our money, we lost our apartment, and now live in a NYC shelter.

If he had legal status I believe this wouldn’t be our reality. But we have the audacity to hope for change. We have been through enough. We need Immigration reform that will make a difference no! PLEASE

I have been here for 7 years and  I have had many jobs. I have worked as a a babysitter, housecleaner ,landscaping, dog sitter.

I’m not rich but my family lives in a satisfied condition.  I tried twice to get  a visa for my mom but it was denied. Now my mom is sick and can hardly talk through phone or internet.

People would ask why don’t you go back then?  It’s simply because my mom has had a better life with me here;  she has medications and doctors that are much better than other places. The only thing I can do right now is pray to GOD.  Please give me an opportunity to see my mom; she had cancer,  the treatments are expensive;  I don’t have enough time to say bye to her,please one oportunity to work legal, drive, study, and see my family

Throughout the past years, thousands of young, undocumented individuals have come out of the shadows to share their personal stories. I am one of those undocumented individuals. Setting aside my fear and shame, I shed light on my painful struggles in hopes of exposing the need for a comprehensive immigration reform.

While growing up I had been living a double life, to which only other undocumented individuals can relate. Pursued by dread and uncertainty, my life in the shadow as an undocumented immigrant was difficult and sometimes dangerous.

Consider living in a condition of infinite dangers, always being cut off from security and welfare. Everyday you feel liable for expulsion. Imagine the continuous practical threats of deportation, of being exiled permanently from the United States – a nation you love and call it home. The constant fear of separation from the people you love; the fear of even calling the police during emergency situations. Imagine not living in the realm of choice, like your peers, and having to accept a fate determined by political leaders. Imagine the fear of losing all of your hopes and dreams. Imagine being undocumented.

This is my story…

My husband Jagmohan was up and getting our three children ready for school. He was ushering them into the shower making them breakfast. I was still in bed because an amputation operation on New Years Eve had me restricted to how much time I could spend on my feet. Everything fell to my husband he was temporarily Mr. Mom/Dad.

That morning he had to be in court for a ticket. We made plans to go to the court do some errands and have lunch. While I waited for my husband to get out of court I was texting my sister about where we would meet for lunch. I remember texting her that being in court made me nervous her response “relax its just a ticket there not going to arrest him…lol”.

So I waited and I saw my husband come out he waved me off and just told me he was going downstairs to talk to the clerk about a class he had to take. A few minutes later a women approaches and ask if my name is Mariana, I told her yes. She said “follow me” on the way down the escalator she told me “Your husband has been arrested by ICE he is being taken to Homeland security meet him there, do you have any children”

I was shocked and stuttered out an answer “yes….three we’ve been married for 11 years” as we approached the ground floor there was my husband in handcuffs. Its something I will never ever forget as long as I live. I started to cry my husband told me ” Baby don’t cry its going to be okay be strong” As they started to take them away I pleaded with ICE ” I can’t drive what am I suppose to I have a leg brace on”.  They didn’t care and they left me there in the middle of the court house. I waited and gathered myself I called my sister and my mother, my sister was the first to arrive. All I could think about was What would I tell my children?

What was I going to say to them? That day I saw my husband twice at ICE he looked so broken his thought mirrored mine.  What would we tell the children. I hired a lawyer he filed I246 and I130 its been almost 2 months since we filed with no decision yet on the I246. I told my children that my husband had to go to NY to help family with a failing business. Every night they tell me that they miss there dad.

Though he is able to call it isn’t the same. On occasions my children cry for there father. This morning my son told me that last night he cried himself to sleep because he misses his daddy. A mother’s heart breaks but what can a mother do when her hands are tied. I grew up in this country believing that I had the right to the pursuit of happiness. However happiness is not what I feel, happiness is not what my children feel.

My husband is a good man who has always gone out of his way to help others. He has worked since he arrived in this country, has paid taxes like so many of us. He has never been in trouble with the law except speeding tickets. For almost twenty years he has lived in this country as an upstanding citizen. He has come to love this country as his own. This is his home now, this is where he met me, where we had our children. Its been almost two months since I have been able to hug my husband or kiss him, two months since he has seen our children. Is this what the government of the United States aspires to the separation of families. All those people opposing Immigration Reform do they find comfort and satisfaction in the tears of my children, immigration is not so cut and dry or black in white. Save my husband, Save the families separated by deportation stop the tears of our children…Everyone deserves the Right to the Pursuit of Happiness even immigrants!

When David was 9 years old he was diagnosed with ADD.  Life was not good between he and my husband. The verbal and mental abuses were the worse for David. He then turned to use drugs, which had him gotted into trouble with the law. At that time,  I found out he would get deported because he was not a American. My husband used to asked us to stop speaking Portuguese because we are no longer Brazilian but Americans.

Now my son was deported to Brazil,  a country he didn’t know at all.  My son hates Brazil; he couldn’t stay there because everyone  in Brazil think he was an American. They call him bad names. I tried to help him came back to the U.S. by having him stay closer to home in Mexico,  but he was almost killed few times.  He got so desperate and tried to cross the border to come back home to the U.S.– the only home he thinks he belongs to.

My son David needs help.  He is older now and married to a U.S. citizen and has 2 beautiful girls who are 9 and 11 years old.

I want everyone to know that though my son is not an American on paper, he is an American citizen by heart. But  no one gives a chance to him.

David is in jail now, and is waiting for his court day on April 9th, 2013. That is unfair and terrible to put a person in jail for trying to came back home!

It’s hard of having a 5 years old child that asks questions about dad, and you don’t even know how to answer them. I clearly remembered the day when my husband was picked up by ICE.  They came to the house, looked for another Hispanic male, which was not my husband. Of course,  being profiled, they approached my husband and asked him in Spanish about his citizenship papers. He was just coming back from paying our light bill, and was coming home to get ready for work where he worked 12 hour a day,  7 days a week. He has no criminal record in either country. But yes, he came here illegally and was detained.

He was detained in a detention center for 22 days. Although he was not put in jail,  it still felt as if my whole family was in jail and we were living our life in Limbo. We have all been suffering and it’s unfair to my son to suffer from this.

We have a court date that has been setted in this summer.  Hopefully we will be given the answers that we have hoped and prayed for! Please help to keep my husband to remain in this country! My son and I need him so  much! It’s hard for me to hold a steady job as I’m suffering from P.T.S.D.  If my husband has to be sent back, he has to go back to Juarez Mexico, which is also known as “murder capital”–now who wants to go there?  We do not deserve this— I am a U.S. citizen from birth  andI carry both German and Irish genes— neither do any other immigrants.

Please help to keep my family together!

WE NEED DADDY HERE!!!!