Coding a Pathway to Citizenship

Fusion’s Derrick Ashong had a chance to speak to a couple of the DREAMers about their struggles. These are some of the stories they shared with us.

Sarahi Espinoza – “To me, to have my family to have my mom who was here who came here with me and now be in another country and me not even be able to see her, it just seems so unfair and unreal at the same time. Like really? I live in America, I feel American, I Pledge of Allegiance to the flag everyday at school like all of my other classmates, but when I want to go see my mom I can’t. I can go but I can’t come back to the place I call home.”

Justino Mora – “In high school, I took all the advance placement course I could take, I took all the honors courses as well. I was the captain of the cross country team, of the track and field team. And I did a lot of things because I knew since day one, since the day we came to the United States that I was undocumented and that I had a lot of obstacles ahead of me and that I needed to do more things than my classmates because that would be the only way that I would shine and find those opportunities.”

Henry Lopez – “Well, I hope that through this Hackathon, I’m able to give that message to that Dreamer that is currently in high school, saying I’m a Dreamer, I’m undocumented, I can’t go to college or I don’t know any other Dreamers. If they hear about this event, that you can go to college, that coding with professionals is possible, becoming successful in Silicon Valley is possible if you are a Dreamer. There are outlets and all you need to do is work hard and fight for immigration reform.”