This is about a woman living in Wilmington, DE, which is where my
wife and I live. Her name is Kay-Dean Hayden. This is a portion of a
short email she recently sent to me:
My name Kay-Dean, a community builder who happens to be a
DACA recipient. I was born in Jamaica but I have lived in the
U.S. since I was 7 or 8 years old. I grew up in Delaware and
moved to New York in 2012 and moved back [to Delaware]
recently after 5\1/2\ years [in New York]. I am approaching 30 years old on March 1st, so I've been
here [in the United States] for almost 22-23 years. My grandmother raised myself and two of my cousins. I grew
up not really understanding my immigration status or the
implications it would have on my reality and dreams. I missed
out on opportunities, but I assumed it was due to our
financial lack. My grandmother worked hard but she couldn't
read or write so this limited her. After unjustly gaining a juvenile record because of poor
representation and ignorance of my rights, I decided I would
become a lawyer, not fully understanding that my immigration
status would potentially bar me from obtaining that dream. After that summer, I gained a better understanding of my
status and why I couldn't really get a summer job or travel. In order to truly cope, I determined that if I worked hard
enough, surely I could attain all my hopes and dreams. I told my guidance counselor what I understood about my
immigration status and heard nothing but disappointment, I
was discouraged but I remained determined. I believed God
would reward my hard-work and faithfulness. So I saw [a]
different guidance counselor my 12th grade year, in tears,
pleading for help.
Keywords matched
immigration DACA