Sankar Raman

A Focus on the Possible

For Emiliano Ruelas Sosa, the doors to the American dream began to close when he was 15. Due to his legal status he was not allowed to get his driver’s […]

Sankar Raman

Coming Out of the Shadows

Sindy Avila Gutierrez was born in Morelos, Mexico. At the age of two, she was brought to the United States to live with her parents in Oregon. Arriving without formal […]

Sankar Raman

A Rebellion Against Silence

Sindy Avila-Gutierrez looks back undaunted on her life as an undocumented immigrant.  “I’ve always been a rebel in that way,” she says. “You tell me

Karen Weliky

Using Identity to Live Out Loud

In elementary school Osvaldo Gonzalez felt sure that he was destined to be an outsider. “I felt like it was not OK to be me,” he remembers. “I would sit […]

Karen Weliky

A Musician’s Education

As he was relaxing on the beach at sunset, beer in hand, Gerardo Calderon Garcia was startled when a stranger approached. After a short conversation, the stranger

Tired of Living in the Shadows

Liliana Luna was born in Mexico and immigrated to the United States without documents at age 15. As you’ll hear in Liliana’s story,  

Becoming a Permanent Resident

Miguel Rodriguez tells the story of how he got his Permanent Resident Card (green card), which allowed him to continue his college education. Miguel arrived 

Sankar Raman

Where Are You From?

It took Dr. Elizabeth Flores through high school, college, and medical school to really understand herself. Born in America, raised in Mexico,  

John Rudoff

Weaving a New Life into a New City

When Francisco Bautista married, his father gave him the family’s 250-pound wooden foot-pedal loom. When he left Teotitlán del Valle, Mexico for the U.S.

John Rudoff

Conquering a Life of Uncertainty

Daniel Franco Núñez’s earliest memory is being smuggled across the border into the US in his grandfather’s arms. Núñez was born in Guadalajara, Mexico In 1985.

John Rudoff

Keep Knocking on Doors

Even while battling kidney disease and working at McDonalds to pay her way through college, Marissa de los Angeles Roxinny Salgado Garcia

Sankar Raman

From Conflict to Confidence

At just six years old, Heriberto Bolanos raised his hand to cross the border from Mexico into the United States under the powerful jets

Lisa Cohn

Pleading for a Pathway

Azucena Javier-Marquez is relieved about the June 18 U.S. Supreme Court ruling rejecting attempts by the Trump administration to end protections

Jim Lommasson

What Miguel Carried, Orizaba, Mexico

Luz Rowley: Growing up in Mexico, I always knew that I needed an education in order to have a better future for myself. But my parents believed that women needed