Faces of Dreamers: Loyola University Chicago Students

This is one in a series of posts on individual Dreamers, undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as young children, many of whom are under threat of deportation following the Trump administration’s decision last month to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, or DACA.

Cristina Nunez, who was 2 years old when her family migrated to Illinois from Mexico, is a Dean’s List history major at Loyola University Chicago and plans to attend law school. Zarna Patel, a third-year student at Loyola’s Stritch School of Medicine, was 3 years old when her family brought her to North Carolina from India. Jose Martinez (a pseudonym) taught himself English when his parents migrated to Southern California from Mexico. Today he dreams of becoming a structural engineer.

Loyola tells their stories as part of its campaign to support Dreamers and ask Congress to pass legislation permanently protecting these outstanding young people.

The university also has coordinated an effort that saw 7,362 letters sent to 84 members of Congress—84 senators and 297 representatives—by members of the Loyola community on behalf of students who are directly affected by the fate of the DACA policy. The letters were personally delivered to Capitol Hill Oct. 18 during Protect Dreamers higher education week.

Click here to read more about Loyola’s Dreamers initiatives and resources.