My Story
 

I was 11 years of age when my parents brought me to this country. I was born in Chihuahua Mexico and moved to Wyoming in 2001. I am almost 20 years of age. I’m a current student at a Community College. I’m also an Illegal Alien.

My first year in this country was horrible. I will never forget the first day of Junior High. I was alone and felt so different. I remember sitting by myself in the cafeteria filled with kids. I ended up going to the counselor’s office to finish my lunch. The rest of my junior high I was an average kid there was nothing special about me. Our ESL class started with 9 students. There was a guy from Russia, two from India, one form S. Korea, and the rest from Mexico. These people were my first friends. And none of us spoke a word of English.

After junior high I went to high school. I felt more confident. I had learned the basic English structure by this time. I started taking regular English classes instead of the ESL courses. Our ESL class had 6 students three of the Mexicans and the Korean had dropped out of school. My junior year came and I was the only Mexican left from the begging. My senior year came and all of the students were applying for scholarships and colleges. I stated to apply to some scholarships as well. I received two from nonprofit organization HOPE and the 5 de Mayo. I was crown 5 de Mayo king in 2007. I was so happy for this accomplishment. My mom was extremely happy for me. On the other hand my dad wasn’t at all. He asked me why was I doing it and to stop wasting your time. This really got to me. I only wanted some support. After graduating high school I applied to the University of Wyoming because my friends wanted me to go with them. While I was filling out the application it got to me that I was not going to be able to go because of my statues. In a way I kind of knew this but I played dumb. I filled the application as a US resident. Later in the week I received a welcome letter and the only thing that they needed was a copy of my green card which I don’t have one. I had to lie to my friends that my act scores were really low and that I couldn’t go to that school.

In the spring semester of 2008 I decided to apply to the community college. They did ask for a SSN, so I put my fake one that I’ve been working with. When I started attending classes I told myself this time was going to be different and I was going to try 110% at school. I am very involved with school. I am, in the student senate and also I’m in speech and debate which they’re paying my tuition for the school year 09-10. I also created a Latino Club at the college. It’s the very first one over the 40 years that the college has been open . I believe that I was the right thing to do to give back to the community since all this wonderful things have been happening to me.

I will be graduating I the spring of 2010 with an associate’s degree in general studies in science. I need the DREAM Act to be passed so I can go into the University of Wyoming and get my engineering degree.

This past two years I’ve been blessed with so many opportunities. I’ve even got a letter from Senator John Barrasso congratulating me on all my accomplishments. The immigration system is broken and it needs to be fixed. We are not criminals and we only want to make this country better please, POR FAVOR support the DREAM ACT. I want to experience the American dream.

Thanks for reading ( it feels good to take this weight out of my shoulders)

Re: My Story
 

Welcome to DAP!!! Continue your academic endeavors and may all your goals be accomplished. Just one thing tho, couldn't you have left SSN# blank in the form?

Re: My Story
 

you put a fake ssn in your information?????

Re: My Story
 

yeah, my worries exactly. This is something that could come back and bite you later on, I just hope that you graduate fast and that they somehow miss that, or perhaps ignore it if a legal path to legalization becomes available and they end up checking up on your past..

Re: My Story
 

True... I hope that there is a way for you to fix it tho, maybe tell them that you need to change few info in that form? What do you think Buck? Could he do that?

Re: My Story
 

its possible, but then I would be worried about any awards he may have received due to the status he declared previously, coming back and forcing him to drop out of school, a concern that had apparently materialized for a fellow member in this forum in the past at least, which could potentially cause a lot of distress and delay his education.

I'd say his best bet would be to consult with an immigration lawyer as he would be more familiarized with the laws that could appear from continuing and actually completing his education under the fake SSN, to potential repercussions if he changed his information mid-education.

We must also remember that the people working in the bursar office are human and capable of human mistakes specially in a field they may not be accustomed with, this is what materializes loop holes in the system, and how someone was able to get in-state tuition simply because he took duel enrollment classes in that school while he was in high school in a state that does not offer that to out of status students. The check up procedure after the information is changed might not be as thorough in checking for that because the student has simply been accepted already.

I am however, simply grasping at straws here. The DA and its moral character clause has not been defined and a lot of the problems he could face are present right there, it all depends on how much they are willing to forgive as activities that people just had to do, such as working illegally or driving without a DL.
I feel a major factor will also depend on what SSN he is using, if it was borrowed from someone he knows then (better) versus bought in the black market (very bad).

Re: My Story
 

Well said Buck! So yeah, I would do what he said (consult with an expert first before doing anything else). I always wondered about the good moral character clause btw... I always puzzled me. But I think they will mainly deal with whether your records are clean or not... But then again, I really don't know.

I was trying to give you some green points for well thought out comment, but it's not lettting me because I previously gave you a green. ;)

Re: My Story
 

thanks for the comments!. I tried applying with out a SSN but they would not accept my app. so i guess it was easy for me to put a fake one. This number does not belong to anyone. I have excellent moral values, all my scholarships do not come from the government. By putting the fake SSN for college wouldnt it be the same as working illegally. I will have to consult an immigration lawyer to see what could happen. Thank you

Re: My Story
 

those words sound harsh. :|
welcome to dap! :D

Re: My Story
 

I'm not an illegal alien. I'm an undocumented immigrant. I wish I were an alien though, that way I would have really cool gadgets and gizmos.