UNC’s student-run media project ReeseNews has a powerful article about several students who aren’t able to pursue their dreams because of our broken immigration system.
Here’s an excerpt:
Loida Ginocchio-Silva sat in her usual chair the day her AP English teacher asked the class about its plans after graduating high school.
When the time came for Loida to answer, most of her classmates — a group predominantly composed of white honors students — had already named some of the area’s top schools: Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Wake Forest University and North Carolina State University.
Loida could not add to the list. Rather, she told the class that she was considering community college, if any college at all. Loida was an undocumented immigrant, and college was not something she or her family could afford.
The teacher, Loida recalled, expressed a look of disappointment. Unaware of Loida’s undocumented status, the teacher responded to the class that she did not understand why a student would take an AP class if they did not plan on going to college.
With her head to her desk, Loida stayed silent. “I wanted to speak up, but I couldn’t,” she said. “I was so afraid. I was so embarrassed — ashamed of my status.”
Read more about Loida and several other North Carolina DREAMers in the full story.
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