By Guillermo Camarillo, Communications Intern, Stanford in Government Program Recipient
To honor DACA’s fifth anniversary, the ACLU of Illinois has launched a storytelling project featuring DACA recipients. We hope that by telling these stories, we give agency to more people to tell their own story and challenge the harmful rhetoric coming from the Trump Administration. Here is one story:
ANONYMOUS
I can’t imagine getting into college without DACA. I can’t imagine doing half the things I did in high school without DACA. With it, I was able to travel with my mock trial team. That and being able to participate in other activities as part of my education are opportunities that other Americans have—the people that I’ve grown up with and who are my friends always enjoyed. Being able to be normal, do the same thing as everyone else, is absolutely remarkable.
I have big plans for my life. After I graduate and because I am Mormon, I want to go on my mission. Then I want to go to law school, become an attorney, and eventually run for elective office. I have always loved the combination of activism and policy. I think many current politicians aren’t properly combining the two. What I would like to bring to politics is my activism, like working with different organizations like Black Lives Matter or organizations that work on immigration reform.
DACA was born out of activism. It was born out of individual sacrifice. What we want is to bring about systemic change. I think it is important to have those voices and those movements at the table. To have these conversations with people who make policy and see what can be done.
