DREAM Act Portal Forum - One more out of the millions.

My story starts off similar like many of the immigrants in this country.

Let me tell you a little bit about myself.

I was born in Brazil in 1988, in hope of a better life my dad had the opportunity to try life in the U.S. A few months later after the idea came up, he was able to come. A few months later after he was settled and living the life of many illegal immigrants in this country live,(Working 2-3 jobs, minimum wage paying taxes and not getting any benefits from it but still happy), he was able to save enough money to bring me my mom and my two year old brother.

On December 1st, 2000 I came to the U.S. on a tourist visa and started " a long vacation" as I like to joke about with my American friends which are pretty much 90% of my friends. Anyways now I am 20 years old working at a as a teacher in a little children school from ages 0-4. I have been there for over 2 years now.

I started school in the U.S. in 6th grade, quickly moving from ASL classes (special classes for non-English speakers). Within 4 months of going to school I was able to learn English and Spanish at the same time. I then was put in mostly regular American classes where I got little to no help with translation which by the way was always in Spanish not in my native language Portuguese, which in the end was a plus because I am now trilingual.

Anyways.. After I finished middle school, I moved on to high school and just like any American kid I graduated. Had the same experiences as most kids, I played soccer for the high school for 2 years, wrestled for 3 years placed 8th in state on my last year which I am very proud of. Anyways my dream started crashing when I realized that I would not be able to go very far since I was an illegal alien and I had no social security. When my senior year came and all my friends were applying for colleges, I had no idea what was going to happen to me. I lost many hours of sleep at night, shed a few tears which is something most 18 year old males don't do often but I didn't give up and I kept trying. I decided to talk with the school counselor and just open up my life to him and to my surprise I was the first person he had ever talked to that was in this situation. I had a good enough gpa (3.3) to get into most colleges, I had enough qualities to get a good amount of scholarships and grants and I also had the need of financial aid required by FAFSA help me a great deal with college. Nevertheless it didn't really matter, I lacked one thing that I had no way of working for which was a green card.

Eventually... I finished high school and luckily I live in a state where some community colleges don't require me to have a social security in order to take classes. So, I am now working on my business transfer/associates degree to possibly transfer to a 4 year school in by the end of the next winter term. So far I guess I can't complain much but what I am worried for is the future. Right now college is expensive but for someone that doesn't mind working hard like me paying $1000 every 3 months isn't that much in order to reach my dream. Unlike most American kids at the community college I am not allowed to receive any grants, or financial aids, or scholarships, they all either require me to fill out the FAFSA, be an American Citizen so I have been forced to pay out of pocket. It was funny this weekend I was talking to some people in one of my classes (Americans) and they were shocked by my situation they had a hard time believing that I am actually paying for my college on my own without help or any grants,aids, loans etc.

May I mention I am also the first person to go to college in my family in case that wasn't obvious enough. (if Brazil gave opportunities like the U.S. does for people to go to college my parents would of had an education and probably wouldn't be here today, but that doesn't happen and so we are here still, and we haven't gone back to Brazil in close to 9 years. If anyone knows what it is like to be away from your family for 9 years please help me explain the feeling. Picture yourself being pulled away from your sisters and brothers after being with them for 12 years, that's how I feel about being away from my cousins that I grew up with in Brazil, or all my family friends, my aunts, uncles, grandparents etc. 9 years without seeing them in person. Thank god for technology and windows live messenger with the web cams, definitely alleviates the pain a little.

Basically what the main thing I am hoping to do now is to be able to finish school, get my general business bachelor degree and then work for a couple years have a stable situation and then go back to school for my a masters in International business. With the growth of Brazilian Economy I know people like me who are both Brazilian and American and yes I consider myself half American even though I wasn't born here nor are my parents American. I plan on being able to make better connections between both countries and even the rest of South America.

I am curious to see what comments Ill get and don't worry I am open minded I see all views of things, if you want to hate on me go ahead we can argue either way we'll get nowhere but I'm anxious to hear from the brave people who took the time to read a little bit about my life. :) Feel free to ask questions, and I am no expert but I have gotten further than a lot of people so maybe I can help you with your questions :)