WEBVTT

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I\'m from Guadalajara, Jalisco.

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I came to the United States when I was 10 years old.

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And I\'ve been in the United States now for 18 years.

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My parents told me, \"We\'re going to Disneyland

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and then we\'ll go back to Mexico.\"

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18 years have gone by and we\'re still here.

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I was born in Mexico City.

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My mom is from Mexico City, my dad is from MichoacĂ¡n.

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My dad came to the United States first

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and then he sent for us, the whole family.

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My siblings, my mother and I came together.

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I came when I was 15.

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DACA allowed me to get where I am now.

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It didn\'t fix everything, but it solved our problems.

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It didn\'t give us a whole loaf of bread, but crumbs:

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\"Survive with this.\"

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Well, that\'s how we survived.

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DACA is simply a temporary permit,

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but for us it meant...

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so much.

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It was everything for us.

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Thanks to DACA I\'m here.

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The moment when everything became difficult was

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during the 2016 elections.

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The rhetoric used by a person I don\'t want to name

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was that all Mexicans and all immigrants are

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rapists

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killers

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or criminals.

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Throughout this whole circus,

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we laughed.

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We said, \"It\'s impossible that a person like this

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can be a presidential candidate.\"

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\"It\'s not going to happen,\" we said.

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\"It\'s not going to reach that point.\"

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We tried to stay calm.

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\"DACA is going to stay alive.\"

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We thought it made a mockery of politics,

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but the crucial moment arrived.

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In November, when the elections took place,

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that day was

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one of, if not the most difficult days

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of my life

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because

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all of my dreams

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were shattered.

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It was like waking up from a dream.

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An inconceivable reality.

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Once again we asked ourselves

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\"What\'s happening?\" \"What are we doing?\"

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It was a difficult moment.

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I think it was...

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I think that night was

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One of the two most difficult moments

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of my life.

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I think even more

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I think even more than leaving Mexico.

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I think this is worse.

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This anxiety.

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Many years have passed, but...

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I don\'t remember ever feeling like this.

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My parents decided to come to the United States

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looking for a better future like most immigrants.

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They were looking to give me the opportunity to go to college,

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to get a good education, to be someone important.

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We got here and after a few days of getting adjusted

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my parents asked me \"What do you want to do?\"

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\"Do you want to work or do you want to go to school?\"

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And I told them, \"I don\'t care.\"

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\"I can work or I can go to school, I don\'t know.\"

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At that point my mom intervened

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and thanks to her I am here today.

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When DACA was approved my life changed radically.

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When I was doing my B.A. and my master\'s degree

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I didn\'t have the opportunity to work professionally

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in my field of study.

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I worked at Subway while I was doing my master\'s.

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Thanks to DACA I was able to gain experience as a teacher.

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I was able to teach classes and they paid me to teach.

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Which was what I really wanted to do before

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but I had to work.

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Thanks to DACA I was able to come to Michigan State University

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to do a doctorate degree.

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I had an advisor that told me \"You\'re not going to get anywhere.\"

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\"I don\'t know why you are thinking about college.\"

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\"It\'s better to look for a job at McDonald\'s

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flipping burgers.\"

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I remember when I was working at Subway and I was always thinking

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\"When are we going to get our papers so I can get out of here

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and be able to work doing what I really like.\"

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We\'re students.

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We\'re not millionaires.

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We\'re working one or two jobs,

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like a lot of people.

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We go to school.

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I\'m the same as your neighbor.

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I\'m the same as your child\'s friend.

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I\'m the same as your co-worker.

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I\'m here trying to improve my life.

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I\'m from Mexico.

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I came to the United States when I was five years old.

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I lived in California until we moved to Michigan.

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We have a daughter named Valeria. She\'s five years old.

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This is one of the most difficult parts of our situation

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because she depends on us.

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It\'s not easy making decisions when you have a daughter.

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Everything I do, I do thinking of her.

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She\'s our inspiration.

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She\'s too young to understand the situation.

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We don\'t know what\'s going to happen, and...

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we don\'t know what\'s going to happen to her.

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It\'s a desperate situation you could say

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because we just want her to be okay.

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We\'re at risk of being deported.

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And if they deport us, they\'ll send her to

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a foster home.

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They\'ll have to separate us,

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if we get deported.

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Kids need a stable place.

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We have some stability now

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but in the future who knows where we\'re going to end up.

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We got married last Christmas.

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It\'s difficult because we can\'t plan ahead.

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Sit. Shake. Good boy, Waffles!

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It\'s stressful when no one knows what\'s going to happen.

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It\'s like we are in limbo.

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They were brought here as children. They had no choice in the matter.

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And it\'s just not right for somebody to all of a sudden just determine that they have to go.

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It\'s just not fair.

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They\'re not bad people.

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They\'re just trying to make it through life like we all are.

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And it doesn\'t make sense that they\'re being punished for it.

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We\'re going to stay.

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And if they\'re going to take away our papers,

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we\'ll go on living like we always have.

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We\'ve done it before,

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and we reached a certain point.

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But...