Faces of Dreamers: The Hope and Humanity of Mayra’s Eyes

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.

Mayra, a Dreamer who was born in Mexico with a condition that caused impaired vision and migraines, came to the United States in 1992 at age 7 to settle in California with her family.

More than a decade later, thanks to the DACA program, she was able to get the health insurance she needed and see clearly for the first time in her life, Laurene Powell Jobs, the founder and president of Emerson Collective, writes in Time.

Mayra’s hard work and talent helped her reach the University of California, Santa Cruz, and, later, a master’s program at San Francisco State University. Today she is financially independent, works to support her mother and her 9-year-old niece, and has chosen a career in public health.

Mayra’s eyes—or, rather, a massive photograph of them—were the centerpiece of a picnic and installation by the French Artist JR that united residents on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border in October. JR chose Mayra, Powell Jobs wrote, to represent many things, all at once: Humanity. Hope. Beauty. Division.

To read the full story, click here.