Page 22 - Sonoma County Gazette December 2017

The Only Home They’ve Known
You can make a difference. For ways you can help, go to: myamericandreams.org/get_ involved.html. To watch the films made about six Sonoma County DREAMers, go to: myamericandreams.org/films.html. Happy Holidays to you and yours!.
The holiday season is a time for sharing heartwarming stories and helping those in need. What better time to consider our young immigrants who have DACA – that Obama-era reprieve from deportation that will expire in three months, unless our federal government takes action. There are about 800,000
of these young people nationwide and approximately 4,000 in Sonoma County. Starting in March, they will begin to lose their right to stay in what for most is the only country they know.
The best way to understand the impact DACA has had and what its termination will mean is to hear the stories of those directly affected. Here are profiles of four DACA recipients from our own community:
Diego Jimenez ~ One of the most well-known local DACA stories is that of Diego and Giovanni, whose parallel lives were featured in a short film made for PBS by My American Dreams in 2014. Diego Jimenez and Giovanni Albertolli are best friends who grew up together here; they attended the same elementary school, high school (Rancho Cotate) and university (Sonoma State). Although they were both children of immigrants, one (Giovanni) is a U.S. citizen and the other (Diego) is not. “I just happened to be born here, and he
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specialist for Genentech, the biotech giant. He was married to his college sweetheart in May, and the two began saving to buy their first home. Diego’s future looked very bright and then the Trump Administration announced the end of DACA.
didn’t.” Giovanni observes in the film.
Diego Jimenez was born in Jalisco, Mexico but brought to the U.S. by his parents
before the age of 2. He spent his whole life here. Nonetheless, when he graduated from SSU, without the legal right to work or stay in the U.S., Diego suddenly felt like he was not considered American. Diego: “I can’t be. I wasn’t born here.”
Then in 2013, his DACA status was approved, and his whole life changed. “Suddenly he was like a new person.” Explains Giovanni. He could travel without fear for the first time and he took a trip cross-country for his brother’s graduation at Harvard. “It was like no-holds barred”. Today, Diego works as Access-to-Care
Gymmel Garcia ~ Gymmel Garcia is a native of El Salvador who was raised here in Sonoma County. “My life as an undocumented person was spent blending in. Standing out meant exposing my status and risking everything I had earned up to that moment, and all the opportunities that lay ahead.” A lot of undocumented immigrants grow up here in constant fear of deportation, afraid to attract attention, cautious with friends and peers,
and afraid to travel outside of their communities.
“The day I received DACA, I reclaimed my life,” says Gymmel. Her first
employer after receiving DACA was 10,000 Degrees, a non-profit organization that helps kids from underprivileged families go to college. Through this organization, she shared her undocumented experience with local and national audiences.
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“DACA was the key to unlocking my voice and advocating for meaningful change.” Gymmel writes. After two years at Santa Rosa Junior College, she transferred to UC Berkeley, where she graduated in 2016; now she’s in law school at UC Davis. Gymmel worked part-time during the year for a legal clinic, defending workers’ rights, and then spent the summer working for a large prestigious law firm in San Francisco. She graduates in two years and a bright future in law is within reach.