Opinion: A new day for NJ’s college-bound ‘Dreamers’

Two days before the start of my senior year of high school, I learned that the DACA program, which protects young immigrants like me from deportation, would end. In six months, I would lose my ability to drive, to work, and the freedom to live without fear. I was facing my final year of high school, full of hopes and dreams about what would come next. But listening to Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ announcement that morning sent a dark cloud over all my plans.

I was born in Mexico and moved to the United States when I was three years old. I grew up in Plainfield, New Jersey, with my parents and my younger siblings who were born here. I was valedictorian of my elementary and middle schools. Now, I go to one of the top magnet schools in the state. I’ve worked two jobs and spent all my free time organizing my community. I have been accepted into six universities and, to most, my future looks bright. But because Dreamers like me are barred from accessing federal and state financial aid, college has always been out of reach for me. Even though I had always been at the top of my class -- it did not matter how hard I worked, I would not have the same opportunities as many of my classmates. 

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Today that changes. Gov. Phil Murphy is signing legislation that will extend the opportunity to apply for to state financial aid to New Jersey students who are undocumented, as well as to DACA recipients. This law is the culmination of years of organizing by undocumented young people across the Garden State. It finally completes the New Jersey Dream Act, which passed in 2013 and allowed Dreamers who have attended and graduated from high school in New Jersey the right to be considered for in-state tuition rates. Before then, Dreamers – even if they had studied from K-12 in New Jersey -- had to pay out of state, or sometimes even international tuition rates. 

Heartbreakingly, in 2013, Gov. Chris Christie vetoed the part of the bill that would have given Dreamers access to state financial aid. But after an intensive organizing drive led by undocumented young people, today New Jersey will become the tenth state to extend access to state aid to undocumented students. Starting today, young people like me will have an equal shot at pursuing our dreams.

When DACA ended, I joined immigrant youth leaders from across the state to plan what we were going to do next. We knew we had a choice – we could either stay at home in fear and wait for the government to deport us, or we could choose to stand up, tell our stories, organize our communities and fight for our survival. We chose to fight back. Chanting “undocumented and unafraid,” we staged dozens of rallies and sit-ins and a Thanksgiving week hunger strike to protest the end of DACA. On March 5, the day DACA was scheduled to end, more than 1,000 people joined a statewide day of action at college campuses and congressional offices across New Jersey. 

We may not have won a Dream Act at the federal level, but our organizing has pushed our state to stand up and have our backs. Dreamers like me made thousands of phone calls, held community meetings in high schools and colleges across the state and spent our free time poring over legislation. We familiarized ourselves with the winding hallways of the Statehouse in Trenton, met with state legislators to share our stories and testified before Senate and Assembly committees.

Our hard work has paid off. I started off my senior year terrified and unsure if I would still be in the United States, the only country I’ve ever known as home, by prom. Today, my future is still uncertain. But I know in the fall, I’ll be going to college alongside my classmates. 

When we say we are “undocumented and unafraid,” we don’t mean that we aren’t losing sleep, that we don’t know that our futures are on the line, and that our families are at risk. We know our humanity is up for national debate. To say that we are undocumented and unafraid means that despite our fears, we will continue to push for change, one step at a time, no matter how long it takes; because we are here to stay. 

Maria del Cielo Mendez is a senior at Union County Magnet High School and a Make the Road New Jersey youth leader.