My Name is Michael and I am Undocumented

This week's guest Dreamer is Michael.  Visit Dreamactivist.org to find out how you can help pass the DREAM Act.

My name is Michael and I am currently a first year medical student in Arizona.  My family and I immigrated to the United States when I was 10 years old and I have been living as an illegal immigrant for the past 18 years.

I remember the first time that I felt the limitations of being an illegal immigrant.  While my friends were getting ready for college or the military service during my senior year in high school, I was left trying to figure out what the available options were present for me.  All the college applications required a statement of residency status.  I was neither an American citizen, permanent resident, or had visa documentations.  "What do I write in?" I asked myself.  On most applications I just left that particular portion blank.  Hoping that my residency status did not matter, but as expected I received numerous notifications stating that I needed to clarify exactly what my residency status was, or my application would not be considered complete.

I eventually chose to attend a local college, C.S.U. Stanislaus.  As stated earlier, I really had no idea how to even apply for college given my immigration status, so initially I had a meeting with an admissions counselor.  To my surprise, she turned out to be very supportive and helped me with the application process.

My professional aspirations initially was to become a lawyer, from my personal experiences of being an illegal immigrant, I knew first hand how laws directly affected people in society and I felt that I could really do some positive things for the minority community as a lawyer in the future.

How I came to be a medical student from a pre-law student is rather a lengthy story, but in short my mother was in a horrendous car accident during my first semester in college. My mother had severe laceration of the tongue, broken nose, and a major leg injury as well.  Through going to the hospital and helping my mom go through the healing process, I got to see some of the positive aspects of being in a health care profession.   I was inspired and from that point on to become a doctor and my current goal is to become a surgeon.

After attending California State University of Stanislaus for one year, due to financial constraint, I left school for two semesters, in hopes of returning with the tuition money to pay for the rest of the semesters.  Thankfully AB 540 was passed in California just in time for my return, allowing me to pay instate tuition.  The law definitely help lightened the financial load for my family, without it I don't think I would have been able to graduate.

While attending college, I took night courses and worked 40 hours a week at a local swap meet to earn the money for my tuition, although I was paying instate tuition, I was still unqualified for financial aid.  In the winter of 2004 I graduated with a B.S. in Biology, but was for a second time faced with a daunting limited choices, due to my immigration status.

After graduation I worked in swap meets again for four years, until I gained the courage to try to get into medical school.  I am now a first year student at a medical school in Arizona paying my tuition through a private loan.  I still face the same daunting obstacles that were present when I graduated from college.  The third year of my medical school will require that I rotate among various hospitals and doing so will require that I provide proper identifications, which I do not have at this time.  And even if I were to graduate from medical school, I would still be faced with a limited opportunity that exists for many illegal immigrant students today.  I would not be given the opportunity to apply for a medical license and would not be allowed to practice medicine in the U.S.  I am hoping for the passing of the DREAM act, so that I may be able to become a great surgeon sometime in the near future.

I would like to thank the individuals who have volunteered much of their own time and resources to campaign for the passing of the DREAM act.  For those students who are reading this, and even remotely thinking about giving up hope, GET INVOLVED !! We can make a difference!!