I'm Undocumented and Have been Granted Internship at Washington D.C.

Hello, everyone! I will make this as short as possible.

Basically, my college offers ever year an opportunity to four select students to be interns at Washington D.C. for the summer. The school will be paying for everything: traveling (airplane), free housing for the summer at a university, will give us a couple thousand dollars for living expenses, etc.

It's regarded as a very prestigious award and I am the first undocumented student to receive the internship in the 20+ years that the internship has existed. I had to go through internviews, submit my resume, transcript, three letters of recommendation, etc.

The people who interviewed me and assessed my application KNOW very well I am undocumented. I would say, 99% of the people I know also know about my status. lol.

Currently, I am worried though. I live in California and would have to travel all the day to Washington D.C. by airplane most likely. I was born in Mexico and brought here at two. This internship has us working with government or non-government agencies. Some have even interned inside the White House.

Most likely, I will have to do non-goverment agencies, since government agency buildings (federal) would cause me problems when entering them (since he works at a government agency).

So, after contacting a few contacts, I have to do the following to travel (I have never really traveled):

-Get my Birth Certificate
-Make appointment with Mexican Counselate
-Get my Matricula Consulate/Mexican Passport
-Will speak with a specific person there that I was recommended
-etc.

I am also currently contacting a few other high profile individuals within my network, who are heavily involved in the DREAM Act movement, hopefully to see if there is a way I can work at a goverment agency.

ALSO, big question for you all:

Since Senator Durbin cares so much about undocumented students, do you think there is a way I could contact him to see if he could pull some strings to work with him?

Thanks!! I will update you all on this and ANY suggestions would help!

Matricula will not work for traveling! Make sure you get your passport! Congrats and good luck!

You should contact some pro Dream Act congressmen and senators and see if they have any advice for you. Congratulation and good luck! You are the poster child of Dream Act.

congratulation and good luck, make us proud

While you are in DC, make sure to ask around if they see anything significant happening with DA. You can be our insider. Maybe they know something we don't. And good luck!

wow congrats!

That's an amazing opportunity, congratulations!!!! I hope everything goes smoothly for you.

Thats awesome. I would probably try to contact some DA friend/supporting congress members and see if they can help you out. Its always worth a try. Good luck!

that's awesome. didn't know we can intern without an SS? This is really great to hear coz I've been seeing all these internships and I thought I couldn't do it coz of my status. this gives me hope!

If you don't have a drivers license or any form of ID that you can fly with, just tell your school that you have a fear of flying, and that you want to travel by train to Washington, DC. You gotta do it!

When I didn't have a drivers license, I took a train from New York City, all the way out to the west coast. I had no problems at all, and you shouldn't either. I never got asked for ID.

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