There are lots of ways that being undocumented has affected my life. They just weren't as obvious to me, as I imagine they were for you. For example:

(1) STUDY ABROAD: In high school I wanted to go on a class trip to China but my mom said we couldn't afford it. She said the same thing in college when I wanted to study abroad, and she was pretty damn adamant about it. The real reason was that if I left the country, I wouldn't be allowed back in.

(2) FINANCIAL AID: When I applied to college, I had to apply as an international student because I obviously didn't have a green card. A lot of schools evaluate US citizens/permanent residents differently than international students. At Northwestern, international students basically don't get financial aid. So I had to take out $110,000 in student loans while my friends were paying basically half that. The longer-term consequence of this is that I owe so much money, I can't move out of my house. I won't be able to move out for another year or two, while 90% of my friends are off gallivanting around the world or living in condos in midtown Manhattan.

(3) WORK EXPERIENCE: My parents have continuously filed paperwork for permanent resident status since like 1998. We've had several different visas, and in college my parents filed yet another green card application. My work permit expired Oct 2008 (freshman year) and when I wanted to work in college, my mom told me she had applied for a new work permit for me but it hadn't arrived yet. I didn't realize that there was no work permit that was coming. My parents didn't include me in their immigration stuff bc it really is an adults' issue. There were so many lawyers involved all the time and they didn't want me to be worried about the paperwork.

(4) INTERNSHIPS: I got accepted to a really awesome internship during my junior year. They asked for a work permit and actually rescinded my offer once I couldn't produce a work permit. I was totally bummed but this is another example of how being undocumented has created obstacles for me.

(5) COLLEGE GRADUATION: I live in Texas but went to school in Chicago. My parents had to drive 20+ hours to my college graduation ceremony because they couldn't fly there (no ID). And my brother had to rent a car for them because he had a valid driver's license, but they didn't. It was actually pretty scary to trek through highways littered with border patrol because you never know who is going to stop you.

(6) NIGHTLIFE: Warning... first world problem:
Chicago is the best city in this country, partially for its amazing nightlife. After I learned about my status, going out to bars and clubs made me really paranoid because I never knew if I was going to lose my drivers license, or if a bouncer was going to take it, because if I lost my license, I wouldn't be able to get another one (meaning I wouldn't be able to fly home to see my family for winter/spring break). I also used to get really paranoid at airports for the same reason.

(7) PRISON: I was part of an investigative journalism think tank my senior year of college. We had to go interview an inmate in prison and the first time my class went, I couldn't go because I didn't know if my ID would trigger an immigration alarm in the prison's identification database. Luckily I got to go see the inmate and this was the incredible outcome!

(8 ) DETENTION CENTER: My dad got picked up by ICE back in May. I had to bail him out of the detention center. I'm pretty sure this is an experience unique to undocumented immigrants (and the families of felons).

(9) JURY DUTY: That's right folks - I got called in for jury duty!! Sadly I couldn't go for obvious reasons.

(10) VISITING RELATIVES: I have a huge family (like 50+ cousins). None of them live in the US. I've never been to a family wedding or met any of my cousins' kids. My grandpa is my best friend and I'm dying to see him, so I had to apply for AP and I'm waiting for hopefully an approval to come through.

(11) HEALTHCARE: I'm 24 years old. A lot of my friends are on their parents' healthcare plans, but since my parents don't qualify for Obamacare, I have to pay for private insurance through work. It's not easy to watch your parents skip basic checkups with the dentist and doctor while I'm getting my teeth cleaned twice a year for basically no cost. Their sacrifices have made it possible for me to find a good job, and it's completely unfair that they can't reap the benefits of their own hard work.



So yeah, perhaps I'm not "undocumented enough" in some respects but that doesn't mean I haven't seen my fair share of obstacles. My parents worked damn hard to make sure that I felt like I had a normal American childhood, and I'm glad they did because not once as a kid was I ever plagued with the thought that I could get kicked out of this country. I never had to live with that type of fear until my junior year of college. If I had known what kind of obstacles and roadblocks I'd have to face in the future, then I never would have tried as hard as I did in school and in life. I'm sorry if you went through something different, but things are getting better now for ALL of us.

You haven't shared much about your personal background but I encourage you to talk about it so you can help people understand what it means to be undocumented. If they understand, they will change. You can be a part of that.