He was also captain of the varsity track and
field team and a member of the soccer team and the school orchestra. In his spare time, if there was any, Jose volunteered with the United
Way, and as a result of his academic record and volunteer service, he
received a college scholarship from the United Way. Incidentally, DREAMers--undocumented--don't qualify for any Federal
assistance for their education, so they have to find it in other
places. His work with the United Way helped to pay his way at the
college. He went to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and
received multiple academic awards and continued his volunteer service
with Alpha Phi Omega, a national service fraternity. He received the
Distinguished Service Key, the fraternity's highest award. He graduated
with a bachelor of science in kinesiology and then went on to earn a
master's degree in public health at the University of Illinois. In his last semester of graduate school, President Obama announced
the DACA Program, which I described earlier. He applied, signed up, and
became part of that DACA Program. What is he doing today with his master's degree, with his opportunity
to work in fields of public health and such? He signed up for Teach For
America. We know Teach For America is a national nonprofit organization
that places talented recent college graduates in urban and rural
schools that have a shortage of teachers. Jose is currently a high
school physics and public health teacher in the city of Chicago. He wrote me a letter, and he said:
DACA changed my life in more ways than I can ever explain. It has given me the power to help others, the freedom to
travel, and the right to legally work without fear of
deportation. Simply put, without DACA, I wouldn't exist for
my students and my community. If DACA is eliminated, what will happen to Jose? The day after DACA,
he won't be able to teach. He could be deported back to Mexico, where
he hasn't lived since he was a 2-year-old toddler. That would be a
tragedy, not just for Jose and his family but for this Nation. This is
a fine young man who, against great odds, undocumented, has written
this amazing record in his young life. He is a giving person. He could
be making a lot more money than his pay with Teach For America in an
inner city school.
Keywords matched
deported undocumented DACA deportation