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06-05-2011, 08:01 PM #1
After Graduating as an Illegal Immigrant, a Struggle to Navi
After Graduating as an Illegal Immigrant, a Struggle to Navigate the System
The Baruch College commencement ceremony set for Wednesday will mark five years since Lesslie Alvarez and Walter Barrientos graduated from the city university’s business school as the first in their immigrant families to attend college. But even as they celebrated, they were terrified commencement marked a conclusion rather than a beginning: The two were in the U.S. illegally.
When they graduated, it seemed as if the Dream Act would become law and provide undocumented young people like them -- who arrived in the U.S. as children -- a chance at legal status. But the law repeatedly failed to pass.
Instead, over the past five years, as their classmates climbed the corporate ladder, Barrientos and Alvarez negotiated a maze reserved for those in the shadows of American society: fighting the detention system, wading into the black market and mulling sham marriages.
Alvarez — with her unshakable Brooklyn accent — just barely remembers crossing the Mexican border in her mother’s arms as a two year old. Barrientos, a natural communicator with an infectious smile, arrived at JFK as an 11-year-old boy after his parents sent for him from Guatemala. The two are among thousands of undocumented students who graduate from college each year, most of them with no option to work but the underground economy.
Walter’s Journey
On the night they graduated, Barrientos cried himself to sleep. He managed to get a job in a Brooklyn warehouse packaging luxury sheets and towels. But his parents — a housekeeper and a construction worker — couldn’t stand to watch their college-educated son spend his days folding cardboard. So they supported him, and he began organizing other young people without papers.
He took an Amtrak train to Chicago in the fall after graduation for a conference with immigrant leaders. At around 3 a.m., Walter was shaken awake as the train neared Canada, and the Border Patrol was doing a sweep.
“For the first few seconds I was like, ‘This is not immigration,’ and then I was like, ‘This is it,’â€Unemployment is not working. Deport illegal alien workers now! Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)
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06-05-2011, 09:34 PM #2
Re: After Graduating as an Illegal Immigrant, a Struggle to
Just five years after graduating, Barrientos, at 26, has almost completed his Master’s in non-profit management, and works for a community foundation in Manhattan.
"Americans do not care anymore!" you have made us numb with all your demands and entitlements please don't take this the wrong way "GET OUT!"Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at http://eepurl.com/cktGTn
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06-05-2011, 10:21 PM #3
I'm calling B.S. on this story. What I see is two scam artist who learned to play the system. One got married for papers and the other used the system for the sole purpose of gaining his legal status.
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06-05-2011, 10:24 PM #4
"Americans are the Victims of Illegal Aliens!"
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06-05-2011, 10:25 PM #5Originally Posted by stevetherooferSupport our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at http://eepurl.com/cktGTn
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06-06-2011, 12:08 AM #6
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I quoted myself again!
72 Hours Till Deadline: Durbin moves on Amnesty
04-28-2024, 02:18 PM in illegal immigration Announcements