Faces of Dreamers: Santiago Tobar Potes, Columbia University

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 to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, or DACA.

Dreamer Santiago Tobar Potes says after he arrived in the United States at age four, he watched television news to learn English.

Now in his second year at Columbia University (NY), Potes writes in Civic Nation Voice on Forbes.com that the opportunity to study and gain a quality education “is the greatest gift I have ever received.”

“It would be a luxury to become part of the current 6.7 percent of the world who is college educated; and all the more luxurious for an undocumented student who fled murder to come to the US,” he says. “Coming to the U.S., many of us faced circumstances of unimaginable hardships and danger. We use our education to improve our lives and the lives of our families.”

To read the full story, click here.