Ep. 2 - Nahomi's Story: Life As An Undocumented Immigrant

0:00:17 - Melissa

Welcome to THIS IS MY STORY, where everyday women share their stories of struggles and setbacks that have shaped their lives. I'm your host, Melissa Teutsch. In today's episode, Nahomi Itzel Solorzano Centeno, a college student, takes us on an eye-opening journey into her life as an undocumented immigrant in the United States. Her story is one of resilience, determination and the pursuit of education. Despite facing numerous challenges, Nahomi shares the experiences that shaped her path, from navigating the complexities of her legal status to the emotional and academic hurdles she encountered along the way. Her story provides a unique perspective on the realities of immigration, the power of resilience and the enduring spirit of the American Dream. Before we dive into today's episode, don't forget to follow us on our social media and subscribe to us. Wherever you listen to your podcast, you can find all our social media links, as well as more information about us, at ThisIsMyStoryPodcast.com.

0:01:29 - Nahomi

My name is Nahomi and this is my story. 

0:01:33 - Melissa

I was looking through. You sent your Instagram link to me and I was looking through it and I kind of just stopped in my tracks at your high school yearbook photo that you shared. I was like this is amazing and tells me so much about you without even really knowing about you, about how just open you have been about your story. So, since this is a podcast and nobody can see this photo, what it is is it's you're building a book called Illegal, and your quote underneath is I am one of those people Mexico sent. When you took that picture with the Illegal book, like was that in your mind? Like I'm going to use this as my yearbook photo. 

0:02:20 - Nahomi

I knew that you know, senior year is like your last photo for high school and everything. So I wanted, when they said you are allowed to bring a prop, I was like how convenient I have a book that has a title that is literally illegal. And so my high school was very like. I was during school when the whole like political situation on like Mexico is sending you know all these negative people and stuff like that. 

So when I was thinking I was like I was going through a lot of quotes at that time, I was going through that one that I chose a Latina who broke statistics, like I wanted to make my last statement in high school, showcase what I have overcome. So after the whole little situation, I was like I have to bring the book. Obviously I have to figure out the perfect quote. And I ended up choosing those because I think it had more impact. And I remember when I would, when everyone ended up getting their yearbooks, I started getting messages saying you did not just do this, you did not just do this. And I was like I did. And they were like I know you always like to make a statement, Nahomi, but this one we did not expect. 

0:03:35 - Melissa

Well, I loved it and, like I said, I, you know, was just scrolling through and that's like a couple of years back on your Instagram and I just happened to see him, was like oh, wow, that's gutsy. But your whole story has been gutsy. So, taking it back all the way to the beginning, because you know, we don't want to get ahead of ourselves, you were brought to the US when you were six months old. Obviously you don't remember that, but can you tell me you know how that was like, describe that process, that journey for your mother who was bringing you over? 

0:04:12 - Nahomi

It's definitely a story that I always wanted to talk about after she had told me. Obviously, she, when I was younger I didn't know I was illegal Like that was never a conversation that was given to me when I was, you know, younger. That conversation came up more when I, when she finally told me the story and like I wrote a story about it for my elementary school, and they were like, oh, this is very creative. I was like, no, this is true, this is actually what happened. And they're like, okay, well, now that's when you have to like stay quiet, stay low. And I know they did it in order to like protect me and everything. And that's when I was like, okay, now you got to sit me down and explain everything. 

And so that whole process of like my, my mother, having to cross with just their six-month-old baby. It was mostly because, after my parents had gotten married and they had found out that my mom was pregnant with me, my father had left to go to the States to like earn some money so he can bring back. But my mom has always been very strong-minded, so when she she noticed that my dad was going to have to stay for a very long periods of times in the States she was like I got married with you, so in a marriage there's two people, I can't be in one country and you can't be in another country, so either you come back or I go over there. And before my dad could even actually really like tell her an answer, she was already planning on crossing over. So that journey was a treacherous one because she had to go through the desert. She had to go through faking me being a boy. There is I don't know where this couple is now, but apparently when she reached like the actual like border border, there's this very nice couple who had lost their son, but the paperwork still stated that he was alive. So basically I was their boy, while my mom was hiding under the truck. And so I don't know where this couple is, to be honest. But I always am very thankful to them and I hope they're doing their best right now. But they they offered my mom like a way to get through and that's when we finally like crossed over. 

We then had to. We were dropped off. I think she said we were dropped off correctly or something happened, because then we ended up in Mississippi when my father is in Georgia. So we had to cross the Mississippi River and then finally meet up with my uncle. But there was a lot of things going on during that that journey People ending up not making it. But I'm so thankful that we made it. I mean, especially when you're trying to cross the border, there are times where you have to be like quiet, so you don't get caught, and obviously they try to shut the children up or sometimes they even leave them behind. But my mother was like no, I'm going to take my child to this new world, this new place that she's going to be able to grow and hopefully educate herself and have a better future. So yeah, that that journey was a very crazy journey for me at six months, even though I don't remember that much of it. 

0:07:31 - Melissa

So when did you find out? 

0:07:34 - Nahomi

After I had written the story about how we crossed over the border and my teachers from elementary school, they were like, well, we need to now keep this quiet. And that's what got me confused. I was like, wait, why do I have to be quiet for a story? That's true and is my life. And that's when I finally got sat down by my parents and were like, well, here's the thing, you're not like many kids here. There's such thing as a green card, there's such thing as this. And that's when they finally, like broke it down to me. 

And then I realized as a kid I saw it as if I was a secret spy and I was overly obsessed with spy kids. So I thought I was a spy kid and that that's why they couldn't find out that I was from another country and stuff like that. So as a child I saw it more as a game. But as I started growing up and started like wanting to be part of clubs and wanting to be part of other stuff, that's when my parents were like, oh, we can't do that because we can't legally drive, we don't have someone who can take us. So little by little I started noticing like the limitations that I can't do. And I mean, if I was ever part of a club, it was because they did transportation or we only had to pay a little bit for them to help us to do something. I remember the first I guess you can say club that I was a part of was 4-H, because I loved archery and they were the ones that helped us with transportation. My parents did not have to worry about it and stuff like that, and that continued on to when I went to middle school and high school. 

I couldn't really do a lot of stuff. Due to that aspect as well as like traveling and stuff like that. I only was able to travel because we were going by bus. There's this one time we went to a school trip in Florida and then another one in Washington DC, but the only reason why I was able to go was because of the school was providing it and it was a cover under the store, like the school. So if I would have gone by myself, it's a different story. 

So it was when I was in elementary school. That's when they explained it to me. But once I started hitting middle school and high school, that's where I started to like. You know, I always said that I had to grow up a little bit more faster due to, like my situation. So once I was like in middle school, I was like, okay, I'm not like other kids, I can't do this, I can't do that, I can't get caught doing something that might be like a minor thing because I could be sent back. And middle school was really tough because that was where most of like my bullying happened and most of the things that had me like caused me to have a lot of fear. Yeah, I found out mostly when I was in elementary school, but it started to like hit me in middle school and high school. 

0:10:34 - Melissa

So was the bullying in middle school because you were undocumented, or was that just? You know bullying, because kids are mean about anything and everything. 

0:10:46 - Nahomi

I think at first because I was so open about me being undocumented. I'm pretty sure it was mostly because of that and because of the fact that I'm Mexican. So obviously some of the things were like oh, did you bring the drugs? Oh, did you do this? Did you bring this? No, because if I even did that and get caught, that's a whole other situation. Like I'm not dumb enough to do that. And then it would start to like people saying like oh, I have ISIS number, I can call them up and get you in trouble whenever I want. So like that's the like, first of like blackmailing and stuff like that. And so it was mostly because of that and also because I was a Latina. 

Those were like the main factors of the bullying which I was upset, obviously because I mean, I promised my parents I would do nothing dumb like at school that would cause me to get in trouble. 

But I at that time I had a lot of like anger issues, so I was trying so hard to not like throw tables at them and stuff like that, because you can't really speak up for yourself, because some of them might have connections to law enforcement. 

Heck, I think I was in the class with like the sheriff's son, so I had to stay quiet, I had to be okay, so I couldn't do anything, I couldn't defend myself. So I feel like when you're such at a young age, like in middle school, and you're not able to defend yourself because you have a fear that you're going to be sent back, it hurts you mentally and I think that's something that I've been struggling with a lot due to like what happened in middle school and high school, but thankfully, like in college now, like I've found a safe place and I found like a little safe haven in college and so that's been helping me a lot more. I mean the whole thing about the documentary coming out about me and having my actual story be like showcased. I think that helps me a lot and that helped the little middle school me out a lot. 

0:12:51 - Melissa

So definitely some mental anguish that came from that. That was something I was going to ask you later on, but you brought it up. Just how that was on your mental health to have to go through Well, just this whole process, just how it is on your mental health. You had mentioned that you were in high school. You were a senior in high school around the time that. I'm guessing it was around the time that a lot of the build the wall, a lot of the deplorable language was being used, which I know it's still being used a lot today. You're always probably hearing people say you should go back to where you came from or you don't belong here. So how do you handle, aside from middle school where you couldn't really stand up for yourself? But how do you handle that now and what are some of the things people say to you now? 

0:13:39 - Nahomi

I think something that I wish I could have told, like my middle school self, is that you have to accept what you are. You have to accept what's going on in your life because it's happening for a reason. If I would have not gone through what I've went through middle school, I wouldn't have this strong mind that I have now. So how a way that I've been kind of like trying to deal with it mentally is basically not like accepting it, like, oh well, I have to deal with these words, but like, okay, yes, I can hear all the negative stuff, but I can also hear all the positive stuff Because, thankfully, because I have been open, like I've said before, college has really helped me. Because of the fact that my professors are open about it, my colleagues in college, they're helpful about it. Since day one they have helped me out. Anytime I've ever felt like because sometimes I get confused English and Spanish it's all backwards they help me out a lot. So the fact that I could find a support group within my college, that has helped me a lot. I think, just changing my mentality from what I had in middle school from saying, oh well, because I'm illegal, I'm going to be worthless at the end, changing that mentality and saying no, I'm not going to let my limitations stop me. I kind of saw it more as a motivation. So that's when my mind switched Instead of seeing all the negative, look at the positives. Okay, yes, I'm illegal. That means I have to work. Yeah, that means I have to work double time, but that doesn't matter to me because I'm willing to prove myself that I am doing something in society. And I mean, I know that I'm going into the film industry. So a lot of people are like what does that have to do with anything like society-wise? But I mean, film has so much potential. I did a whole little research about how films have created these myths that we believed in. So if we can use that agenda-setting theory of showing them real situations, real problems that are going on in society, now people can see what really is going on instead of that Hollywood view and stuff like that. So that has helped me a lot, changing my mindset from me thinking that I'm just going to be a nobody to. 

I want to make a change for a reason that's helped me a lot mentally and with things that I have been told. Obviously the whole wall that's a common one now, but honestly, I've kind of not really paid attention to any of the negativity, even after. Some people might say like you shouldn't be in college, this is wrong, and stuff like that. But I am, and I always laugh because they're like, oh, you're not supposed to be in college and I'm like, well, I'm at a private university, so it's different. I always come up with something else to say afterwards, but most of the things that they've ever told me is the wall situation. What am I going to do once I get out? I can't get a job, so there's no point of you doing it. You should just drop out. Just little comments like that has been going on now. 

0:16:58 - Melissa

So what are those limitations for you, those challenges that you face by being undocumented, now and future you? 

0:17:07 - Nahomi

Let's see. Well, obviously I can't drive, I can't travel out of the States, and sometimes that's what a lot of people need to do to get to their jobs. If I would have to, I don't know if I got an internship to California. I can't legally drive, so I would need to find some way to get there. And it's really a risk going on a plane, especially since I only have a Mexican passport yes, it has my ID and everything, but there's always a slide risk that they say, okay, yes, you have your Mexican passport, but can you show us a visa, can you show us something like that? And because I don't have any of that, that's a risk. So I need to ask someone to drive me all the way to California, and I feel like that's a big ask. And so traveling has always been one limitation. 

Getting a job is going to be a future limitation because of the fact that I don't have a social security number, and that's what most jobs need. They need your identity, they need your way of proof so you can work. So we have been talking about how, once I leave college, what's the plan? What's going to happen? Because the only job that are going to be willing to accept. You are Mexican restaurants and I don't think that I've worked my four years of being in college to go to a Mexican restaurant. So we've been trying to figure out ways that could possibly help us. But those are some of the limitations. I mean just speaking. My mind is a limitation because I can say something and it can upset someone and they can already be like I don't want her and then end up reporting me for some small thing. Even my words are that powerful and that much of a weakness for me. 

0:19:06 - Melissa

Do you still live in fear that you'll get deported? 

0:19:08 - Nahomi

I think when I was a kid, yes, I think when I was younger, yes, but now that I'm older, I know that everything I have done up to this point, I have done it cautiously and I have done it with knowing that I'm doing the right thing. Every time I know there has been times where people would invite me to events and stuff like that, like parties and they're all drinking. I would always decline it. I would be like no, thank you, I'm underage, I'd rather stay at home. I've tried my best to do the right thing every time. 

I feel like I don't have that fear of getting deported, but it is something that's always in my mind, thinking what's going to be my last straw, what's going to be that one last thing that could end up getting me deported. It's not really a fear, but it is a thing to keep caution. My little yellow flag like hey, is what you're doing going to affect you in the future? Because at any time there could be a case. I have to be honest. There could always be a case of something and then I have to make sure that I did everything the right thing. 

When I was a kid, I was probably worried because I was a kid and I was afraid that anything I did was bad news for me. But now that I'm older, I'm like I've done everything right. I've always been trying to be a good citizen, as in going to school, helping out my family, helping out the community, doing what I need to do, so I don't end up having to deal with something like, oh, you did this in the past and I'm like, nope, that's not what I did. So I've done everything good up to this point. So I feel like I have no fear, but I still do have caution about it. 

0:20:59 - Melissa

There's a lot of misinformation out there about illegal immigrants and a lot of people that will want to claim that anyone who comes over illegally is able to get federal funding for, and state funding and beyond welfare and food stamps and free college and free health care. So can you clear that up for the audience? What exactly do you get from the government? 

0:21:29 - Nahomi

All right, audience drum roll. I get nothing. I get nothing, absolutely Nothing at all. I did that's something that actually in high school came up with and I was talking about with my counselors during high school is that I got accepted for the Hope Scholarship and the Zell Miller Scholarship but sadly I could not accept it because it's a state funded scholarship. Anything from the state I cannot accept because of the fact that I'm undocumented. So one thing for undocumented students specifically, we can't go to public schools, we can't go to community colleges. It has to be a private institution, because the private institution is not getting any funds from the state. So anything that has state I can't have. So that includes help for college health care. 

All of everything that everyone has ever said that we could get is actually something we can't get. So I know that I have been struggling with a heart condition that at some points I feel very weak and I faint and because of the fact that I don't have insurance and I don't have government help, I haven't been able to see the correct doctors for it. So I'm just kind of living with undiagnosed situations because of the fact that I can't go to these specialists and stuff like that, because we can't afford that. We're trying to pay for college and we've been paying it out of pocket when we haven't done loans, because we can't even do that. We can't get loans to help us out for colleges and stuff like that. That's a that we can't do. 

So there's a lot of things that people say that we can do but in reality we can't. It would have to be like using croaked papers, and we don't do that because we don't want to have the consequences of if we get caught with fake papers, then end up being charged for taking somebody's identity and then being charged for crossing the border, like all that. That's not worth it. So a lot of us just end up staying here and trying to find local clinics, trying to find people that are willing to help us out. I mean, there's a clinic here close by to where I live and they don't check for insurance. They don't check for any of that. So that's why we go to that one. But even sometimes medically, we don't get that help that a lot of people do. We can ask for financial aid that, yes but there's nothing that the state can do to help us. 

0:24:03 - Melissa

What would your response be to somebody who's like okay, well, you have what could potentially be a really serious medical problem. Why don't you just go move back to Mexico, where you can have the ability to go to doctors and get help? What's your response to that? 

0:24:24 - Nahomi

As much as I would love to go back to my country I miss it every day dearly, trust me but they don't have what the United States have. There's a high chance that if I go to those hospitals over there, I'm not going to get the right diagnosis. It's the same thing with corruption and stuff like that, because although Mexico is beautiful, there is corruption. There could be a doctor that got paid off and is not doing their job and stuff like that. And over here in the United States it's a lot more stricter, it's a lot more focused on the people. So I would rather get checked out by doctors here than in Mexico. 

And it's not talking bad about my country, but you have to face the facts. You have to face the facts that here there's a lot of more treatment than in Mexico. There is this one time I found out that some medicines in Mexico are not available here and that's the same way over there. So if there's a medicine that is needed and it's not available in Mexico, then I have to come back here. It's the United States either way. So I'd rather be treated here in the United States rather in Mexico, but sadly, I can't. 

0:25:48 - Melissa

I think this was part of what I had read that some coverage that happened around the documentary was that you were in the process of enrolling in the DACA program when it got put on hold because of lawsuits. So where are you in that process now? 

0:26:05 - Nahomi

My process currently is frozen. That's the best way and that's how my lawyer keeps explaining it to me. It's just frozen because of the fact of the lawsuits in Texas, and so it's really a waiting game. And that's what the immigration process is. It's just the waiting game. Basically, you get some news, but then you have to wait, and then, after you wait and wait and wait and wait and wait, then you might get news or you might just be told you have to wait longer. 

So with the whole DACA process, the minimal age to apply is 15. And so when I was 14, I was going to turn 15 in October, but the president at that time, which was Trump, had canceled it. So DACA was shut down in September, so it was like a month difference. I was completely devastated. We were crying for days and then, once I was 18, turning 19, that's when the program opened up again because of President Biden, and so we had worked all the paperwork again, paid all the lawyers all over again, did the whole process all over again, and I had received. 

The last letter I had received was that they needed my fingerprints and that I had to wait for an appointment. But then that's when everything got closed down because of then the lawsuits. So we're at the point where we can't my lawyers can't check if I was accepted or not accepted. They can't check anything. They can't touch my case, so it's currently frozen. So we're waiting until it's really the election time when we might get an answer, because, depending on who is elected, that's going to depend the decision about a lot of things. So right now, mainly our focus is the election right now and seeing who are the top contenders and who is on our side and who's not on our side. Who should we be worried about? Who should we not be worried about, to then later kind of think about where my case is going to end up. 

0:28:24 - Melissa

And just to clarify. I know the answer to this, but just because I like to clear up the miscommunication and the misinformation. Are you allowed to vote? 

0:28:37 - Nahomi

No, I am not allowed to vote, which that's why sometimes I stay quiet when it's election time, because then everyone's like, well, you can't vote, so you don't have an opinion. So that's why I stay quiet sometimes. But I definitely encourage everyone to vote the ones that are able to vote, because it really does affect a lot of us and it really does affect not only you but people around you in society. So I always encourage my friends and I'm like you need to vote. I'm not telling you who to vote, but I do encourage you to vote please. But yes, I cannot vote as much as I would love to. I cannot. 

0:29:15 - Melissa

What age do you cap out of being able to be a part of the DACA program? 

0:29:19 - Nahomi

That is a very, very good question Because it's on hold. There could be changes. There could be. The last time we talked to my lawyer, they said that there might be a time range of people that got accepted and they're the only ones that are going to be accepted. From here on out, no one counts, which that completely changes the rules. So I can't even answer that question, because it really is going to depend on whatever's going to happen with these lawsuits, because these rules can be changed, because at the end, they're gonna have to figure out a compromise and, based on that compromise, that's what we're going to have to deal with. 

We have to deal with what the what cards we got dealt with. 

0:30:03 - Melissa

Do your parents…did they have any kind of pathway that they're currently working on to permanent citizenship? 

0:30:10 - Nahomi

Currently I think they have a pathway for residents, not Citizenship, because it's a lot more harder on our end because we did cross illegally. We can't get Citizenship right away. We have to get at least our residents first, then Prove that we are living as residents here in Georgia or in whatever state we end up staying, and Then, after however many years, then we can work on becoming citizens. But currently my, my mother and my father are also in their own process. I don't really want to talk about their process because that's their story and their stuff, but currently I do know that they're. They have their own process and they've all. They also are at the waiting game right now because the best way I can describe it is that the Immigration they basically look at cases depending on the year that they have applied. So right now I think they're at 1990 something and they look at all those cases. 

They, yeah, they look through all those cases, then they decide which ones yes, which ones no, and then they go to the next year and then they look through all those cases. So it's a very time-consuming process that immigration has to go through. But, um, yeah, I'm not sure what year exactly they're on, but they landed on the year for my mother, so they're looking through her case right now. So that's the good, the good stuff, the good thing that's going on for our family. 

0:31:46 - Melissa

Yay, it's good to hear something good out of all the you know, the DACA freezing and all of that. Just for people who don't know, I'm gonna read this little snippet about DACA because everybody might not know what exactly it is. It was created under the Obama administration in June 2012 to protect eligible young adults who were brought to the US as children from deportation and to provide them with work authorization for temporary, renewable periods. There are roughly 580,000 active DACA recipients from close to 200 different countries of birth residing all over the US. While individuals with DACA status can be authorized to work, it does not provide a pathway to citizenship, nor are DACA recipients eligible for federally funded healthcare coverage. The DACA recipients the current 580,000 of them are parents to more than 300,000 children who are US citizens now. They contribute 45 billion dollars to the GDP annually, as well as pay 13 billion dollars in taxes a year. So they're not freeloaders, they're working, they're paying taxes, they're contributing to the economy. 

And a note as I was doing a little bit of research on this, another statistic that kind of jumped out at me is that 74% of Americans state that they support granting permanent legal status to those who arrived unlawfully in the US as children. 74%...three out of four people. Yet we can't get anything through Congress that would allow for that. In 2021, the American Dream and Promise Act was introduced that would provide a pathway to legal permanent residence status and, eventually, citizenship for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the US as children and who meet certain requirements. However, different versions of this act have been proposed to Congress since 2001, have not made it through. However, there is a new one, hopeful Maybe. There's a new one called the dream act of 2023 that has just recently, in this year, for Congress Introduced and so it's gonna make its way through Congress this year. So maybe hopeful that there was something come out of that. 

0:34:00 - Nahomi

Hopefully. I've always had, I've always had hope. I I always had hope that something good will come out, and I've also I guess you can say I've always been, I've been, open to whatever will happen. So something that my, like my mom likes to say is that God has a purpose, and this is completely. I respect any kind of belief, but for my sake of being Catholic, my mom says that God always has a reason for things. If my reason is to stay here in the United States and Become the filmmaker that I want to be, amazing. But if God wants me to go back to my country and do something there, then I'm willing to accept that as well. 

Is it gonna be heartbreaking? Yes, because I mean, I basically was raised here and that's something I have accepted mentally. Is that, no matter where I am, I'm thankful for all the experience that America has given me, because I will forever be thankful. Yes, I've gone through bullying. Yes, I've gone through a lot of stuff, but I'm thankful for it. I'm thankful for it because it has made me the woman that I am today. It has Push me to push the limits I've always go through. I always go with this motto not let your limitations stop. You make your limitations your motivation. That's something that I have stick to. So, yeah, I'm really hopeful that something good comes out in Congress someday, or if it's my time to go, then it's my time to go, and I have accepted it. 

0:35:36 - Melissa

Do you, having come to the United States at only six months old? Like you said, you don't know anything else, you just know the US. Do you feel like a US citizen or do you feel like you don't belong? 

0:35:47 - Nahomi

I think there is definitely a cultural difference. I mean, here at home, our number one rule is still speak in Spanish, so my house is basically my mini Mexico in the United States and I always keep in contact as much as I can with my family in Mexico. So there is that kind of like cultural difference of am I a Mexican citizen or am I a US citizen and In all honesty, I think I'm both in my heart, I feel like I'm both because I've done, I've Basically was raised here, and I've done what I would would have done if I was a citizen. 

So I feel like I am part of society, but I know, due to the things that I can't do, I'm not fully Part of society. Like you've mentioned before, I can't vote, I can't do this, so I can't really fully a citizen. But I've accepted that idea that I could be and I will be a citizen and that I'm both in both of my countries, being Mexico and the US. But yeah, this, I don't remember much of Mexico. I've only seen things from like videos and photos and what's up calls from my family members to show me how their places are and stuff like that. That's the closest I have been. 

0:37:10 - Melissa

What does the 4th of July mean to you? So every year do you celebrate it, or is it just another day for you? 

0:37:18 - Nahomi

Well, because my sisters were born here and they are citizens, we do celebrate it. We we as a meme, and my parents might not have that close to heart to that celebration, but we still celebrate it for the sake of my sisters because they also are Mexican Americans, so they need to know both of the cultures and we respect every holiday that they have here in the United States. So we might not celebrate it all 100%, but we do celebrate it the 90%. So we do have our cookout, we do have our fireworks, we invite people over to celebrate, but it might not be as close as it is to what actual American citizens see it as. 

0:38:07 - Melissa

So you talked a little bit about your goals for the future. You're a film student. What are your aspirations? What are you in school? And then, where are you going from there? I guess within the framework of if you don't have a DACA, if you're not a DACA recipient by that point, what's the plan? 

0:38:26 - Nahomi

You know that is a very good question. I'm a junior and college right now, so I have this year and next year. Hopefully within those two years something good will come out. If not, then you know, it's always just trying to figure it out but my aspirations of being a filmmaker I not only want to be like a director, but I also want to be a writer for films, and my main goal for films is that I want to bring out more stories that have not been seen. 

I want to bring out more diversity. I want to bring out more of kind of debunking Hollywood myths and stuff like that, Because I feel like a lot of people believe what Hollywood has sent, and I mean it's entertainment. So obviously people eat up whatever they keep showing on the movie screen. But I want to really focus on like real stories maybe not exactly like documentaries, because I still do want to do like the entertainment part, but I do want to showcase more of like the adversity that goes on here in society. I know that my first ever script that I ever wrote is focused on mental health, which is something that a lot of people don't want to touch because then they're like oh, I don't want to do that. I don't want my character to look crazy or stuff like that, but it's topics that a lot of people don't want to talk about and I'm just like these are the topics we need to talk about. These are the topics that we need to watch. Yes, I also want to write a film about immigration. Yes, I want to write a film about being Latina and stuff like that. But it's not just about me, it's about everyone in society and being inclusive to everyone. So, film wise, I wish that I could become a director and writer. 

But obviously there goes the question on if I am accepted to DACA or not. If I'm not, then it really is. I guess you can say starting from the ground up, trying to figure out a way that I could get work, Because I have applied for this program that would give me this sort of tax ID. That is kind of a way that would let me work, but it's mostly everyone mostly asked for social curate numbers. So it's not like a guarantee that it will accept me to any job, but it could accept me to that one job that can help me network my way up and figure out other ways, Because I've always been I mean, I've always said yes to everything. 

I mean, when you came up to me about this podcast, I was like yes, don't worry, I got this. I love networking with people. I love talking to people. So I feel like, because I love networking, that's going to help me a lot in the future, whether I don't have legal status or not, Because these networking me networking is what's going to help me in the long run, Because these people are going to know for who I am and once there is a possibility of me becoming legal, I can always talk to them and be like hey, remember when you said you would really want to work with me, but because I don't have a legal status, I can't do it? Well, now I can. Where do you want me? So it's always having that hope that there is something good going to happen and networking is going to help me a lot. 

0:42:03 - Melissa

So how can we, as individuals and as a community, support you or support the other undocumented students or you know, they call them dreamers, that's the. You know what they call DACA recipients or those who could be eligible for DACA? How can we support you guys?

0:42:24 - Nahomi

Vote. Vote please, because I know a lot of people think that voting has no effect at all and I've heard so many stories of people saying oh yeah, I didn't go vote because I don't care about the people that are up there. Voting is a hundred percent helpful. Knowing what they're promising and what they're not promising helps a lot. So voting is one thing. Really looking out for the community I've met people that kind of not in a way like give. They kind of give a scholarship due to through their business and they make it. They don't make it a requirement for legal status. They have it open for undocumented students. So if you have a local business, be open to have like scholarships in a way for undocumented people can go to college or can go work somewhere. 

Just have an open mind. That's the biggest thing for y'all to have an open mind. And I completely understand why a lot of people are like, oh, immigrants are a bad thing. I mean, look what happened with 9-11. I understand like situations bring up the past, but it's really just keeping that open mindedness. Not all of us are people that are out to get you or are out to hurt you. We're actually just human beings trying to live our lives. 

0:43:48 - Melissa

What advice would you give to other undocumented students who you know? Maybe they're high school students that haven't made it to the college journey yet. So what advice would you give to them? 

0:43:59 - Nahomi

You know I always get this question and then I always blank out on what kind of advice I would give them. 

0:44:04 - Melissa

Or what advice would you give? You know, what advice would college Nahomi give to high school Nahomi? 

0:44:11 - Nahomi

I know that's what I'm trying to imagine a little me. My advice for undocumented high schoolers is to not give up, and I know that sounds very cliche, but at that point in time I was ready to give up. I was ready to just get my high school diploma and start working that's at a Mexican restaurant. That's what I was planning on. But there are opportunities. It's just the fact that they stay hidden. If the Hispanic recruiter from my university did not know my mom and started talking about college, there's a high chance I wouldn't be in college. But there are opportunities. So don't give up, look for it. 

There are times where I feel like people because there's that miscommunication. I mean, in middle school some of my teachers would say there's no way I can go to college. But here I am. I believed them for a long period of time but because of the fact that there are opportunities, they're just really hidden. So you got to dig it up. So don't give up. 

And I've already said this before but your limitation of being undocumented is your motivation. You have to prove to them that you can make it. You have to prove to them that, no matter what, no matter the double or triple times we have to work for it. We will make it, because not only are you making yourself proud, you're making your family proud. I know for a fact that I'm making my family proud because I'm breaking those chains. I'm breaking that cycle of that belief that immigrants are just here to harm people, or immigrants are just sitting down doing nothing. I'm actually here trying to prove them wrong. 

And just don't give up. I keep repeating it and I keep repeating it, but it really is, because I know some of you might be on that edge. Just done for it. But please, please, please, do not fall to the stereotypes, do not fall for all that kind of stuff. Keep going, just keep going, and I promise you so many opportunities will be open to you. One thing that I want to say to them is that I'm proud of all of you. I may not know you, you may not know me, but I'm proud of you, and I know that a lot of us have not heard that, but I'm proud of you for making it this far and I'm proud of you for what you are going to do in the future. 

0:46:45 - Melissa

I'm excited to see what the future holds for you, and you're incredible. I am just floored by the courage it takes for you to step out and be a voice and represent all of these children who have come over here, who deserve it. You deserve to be a US citizen. I'll say it and I'm trying not to be politically biased on here, but you've been here since you were six months old. You just as much deserve it as anyone else, and so I hope that those pathways open for you in the future. 

0:47:20 - Nahomi

Thank you and thank you so much for thinking of me. To be honest, when your husband came up to me and was like hey, she's starting a podcast, would you be interested? I was like yes, because I'm always down for anything. To be honest, getting a news article done on me Happy to do it. Have a documentary on me Happy to do it. Podcast, happy to do it. I'm always happy to help out, especially showcasing more of my story, because, it's true, not a lot of people want to say their story. So thank you so much for letting my story be on your platform and I'm super grateful for that. 

0:47:59 - Melissa

Aw, thank you. 

Thank you for joining us on THIS IS MY STORY. If you've been moved by our conversation and want to make a difference in the lives of immigrant children, please check out the links in our episode show notes to support organizations that are doing incredible work. If you'd like to be a guest on our show or know someone that has an inspiring story they'd like to share, please visit us online at ThisIsMyStoryPodcast.com and fill out the contact us form. If you enjoyed today's episode and want to hear more candid conversations with women about their struggles and setbacks, make sure to hit the subscribe button, and don't forget to leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. 

This has been Nahomi's Story. What's yours? 

Transcribed by https://podium.page