Going strong for my dream with the DREAM

Hello, my name is Jade though my birth name is Ji Eun. I am from South Korea and I have lived in the US since 1996. I am an illegal alien.

I came to the states at the end of my first grade in Korea. It was Spring time and I didn't even get to say goodbye to my friends. I didn't quite understand why we were leaving in the first place but I do so remember it was all because my mother was too impatient to file papers here. Her argument was "what's the difference between getting papers here and getting papers there?"
In my immediate family was only my mother and I. We were wealthy with an awesome background. My mother spent most of her early career life as an actress for period dramas and movies. We were doing well and it seemed only logical that we'd pursue education for me in the US. After all, wasn't that everyone's dream?
I came into the US wide eyed on just a tourist visa but it was most definitely not a two week trip. We moved out from our Uncle's house soon. He was only keeping us temporarily until he could find a place for my mother and I. We eventually moved from his house in New York to a small town in North Jersey.
I was young so I learned English fairly quickly. My mother found a job easily as a manicurist with my aunt. I didn't understand if anything was wrong with my staying in the country. Everything was done for me. I attended school like a regular girl. I went to movies like a regular girl. All my friends were regular girls.
My understanding of what my status is came to me when my mother had a nearly fatal stroke around the winter of 1999. Assuming she would die, I was put with a foster family and I was put under the service of child services (DYFS). There was a long struggle to legally enter me into that home and the school there but nothing is impossible to do legally for a minor. Everything happened so slowly and everything seemed impossible. It was a wonder at all I did get fostered in that family and was able to go to that school.
In just two months, my mother was released from the hospital with no money and no clothes. She looked indignant being bald and looking quite aged from the recovery. I don't think she fully mentally came back since.
We were lucky again to have her old friends help her find an apartment for us and a job. Child services managed to get me back in my school and all should have gone well.
My mother, however, was not all mentally there. She'd cause fights at work and had nearly beat up a customer over 'stinginess'. We were poor and our only method of support was my mother who was mentally ill and her old boyfriend who was a pedophile.
My mother became depressed from being fired every month from every job and drank alcohol to the point of passing out every week. Alcohol only made her mental case worse. The mother I had loved so well who had cared for me and tried to give the world to me was now the constantly inebriated mother who wanted nothing to do with anyone.
I followed suit and became depressed as well. I started to fail school and wished not to have much social interactions. I woke up in the morning, went to school, stared blankly at the white boards, and went straight home after school to lock myself in my room.
I must have been about thirteen or fourteen when that isolation put me at a disadvantage. My mother's boyfriend had taken full advantage of my being alone and took away the one thing that should have been my choice to give to the one I love. My mother didn't flinch when I told her.
At this point, I was just abandoned. My mother may have been there physically under the same roof but I had no friends to turn to and no family to comfort me.
I banned that man from ever looking at me. Even going as far as running away many nights. When I was fifteen, someone had told me that none of this that was happening to me was fair and I took a step forward and went to the police. Though they did their best to find that man, they were never able to find him. He, too, was an illegal alien after all.
But that little push to do something for myself allowed me to be happy wanting the best for myself. I sought out help for my depression and was hospitalized for the majority of my High School career. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder with schizoaffective disorder and borderline positive traits. I became hopeful and I did my best to get treated and even tried my best in school.
However, as the story of any true to life story of a person goes, nothing has a happy ending. I had not graduated yet when I turned 18 but I was kicked out of my house by my mother and I was officially homeless. It turned out that shelters are not allowed to take in illegal aliens. I was hospitalized again in a mental hospital for being homeless. This was in 2007. I was released that year to my pastor and his family who was kind enough to give me a room. This is where I have been since.
It has been two years since I've graduated High School. I've no family left, and the family I am with are too clueless about my existence. I now have a job serving sandwiches and pizza to people.
I often wonder when I'll finally be able to go to college and right all that's been wrong. I don't ever ask for much. I just want to support myself and lead a bland life in the US. I don't want a big house, fame, wealth, or anything similar. I just want a quiet life in a small house doing the same job that's rewarding everyday until I retire and eventually die.
I'm still hopeful. I've already gotten all of my church members to talk to the Jersey Senators (NJ is all DREAM POSITIVE). Even if the DREAM act doesn't pass, I will still be hopeful. Things work out. They may not be for the best, but things work out.
I am Jade and I am one of the many people who will live the life they deserve if the DREAM act passes. I, like the others, will keep strong and steady for my dream with the DREAM.

first of all although far from the most qualified to say, but welcome, you know I really admire your strong will and your optimism and your bravery in sharing this story with us, its has inspired me to see how your willpower continues to triumph over everything.

Us being in all these crazy situations sometimes made me feel like it was a curse, but the more I think of it, we've been given this fight, and no matter what, we find ourselves with this greater purpose in life to fight for, most people can live their life only for themselves, maybe even selfishly in a way, but we have been brought upon us this bigger cause in our life, our life is not just there to serve us, to entertain us, its there to teach others, to lead others to show them that there is this injustice in our world that many people can overlook, this world where many people feel everything is fine and dandy, and all these crazy things that happen, happen to others not ourselves, but we can reveal to others how this injustice is still around but disguised in words like "safety", "common sense", “traffic safety checkpoint”, "national defense." you know I’ve really come to despise those words to see how they are used against us. What we ask for is simple, we want our freedom, we want our choice in life, we want the ability to live a normal life, and although it may seem crazy to people to think that in America there are still people that don’t have their rights, most people take this idea of freedom for granted, they’ve had it their whole life and they expect that just because they don’t notice it, that this exists everywhere in their seemingly perfect world, but it doesn’t, and our cause is to show how it doesn’t, to reveal how easy it is to conceal such an injustice exploiting peoples fears, the patriot act, freedom, "terrorism, drugs, illegal aliens" these are all talking points that are instilled in peoples heads, revealing how vulnerable we really are to ignorance, how easy ignorance is a force to allow atrocities to go unchecked, we have been given this gift to be able to see firsthand how false this veil of ignorance really is and its up to us to allow people to see how close to their own communities they've let atrocities go free because in their own mind, they don’t happen, this is our calling this is our purpose, our purpose in this world is a wakeup call, and our purpose as soon as that is done is to prove to the world how much we can achieve, how far we can go, no matter how hard lady luck has clenched us in her hands and threatened to smash us, our will grew stronger as our obstacles increased, and soon enough, sure enough, our will will triumph, but we have to keep pushing for it, and we'll finally get to show the world what we can achieve.

the world cant see it, they cant protest what they don’t know, yet we know from our own lives its there, and no one else will fight, no one else will, so we must. although I don’t know you, im sending you a giant hug if i may, just cus, were in this together, my struggle is your struggle, your struggle is my cause, reading all this gives me that much more reason to realize how worthy our cause is

This is our fight, this is our first purpose in life, lets keep this going strong

let us keep fighting for our freedom, and we don’t have to just want a simple life, we can strive for anything we want still no matter what anyone says, its obviously harder but what we lack in convenience we just have to make up in willpower and let me tell you this seeing where we all are right now, I know none of us are lacking that

we have you back
keep your head up!

Welcome to DAP

Your story is one of the saddest I have ever heard.
Now with your story said, I can NEVER NEVER quit. I'll pass through this just like you will and everyone here will.

God bless you and all the Dreamies out there. <33

Yeah this has to pass. We all been through a lot.

Thanks for sharing your story with us, hope you continue to get stronger and pursue your nice dreams

Erase / Rewind

What I was told about this was that because the case has gone completely 'cold', and that I, myself, have chosen to allow the case to die, I cannot pursue the u-visa for I will not be able to help investigations for this crime. It's a double jeopardy.

Erase / Rewind

Welcome.

Your story is probably one of the saddest I've heard from someone in our situation. Have you tried getting in contact with a local or national paper to tell your story? Let's hope something gets done this year so you can attend college, and get your life on track.