Meet Loren Campos. He's undocumented and a student at the University of Texas at Austin. He has joined the TX Hunger strike for the DREAM Act and is on day 6. The following is his story. 

“Seven more years full of desperation and fear of deportation”

It was an unusual evening when I crossed the Mexico-US border. The excitement of exploring and learning from a new culture was juxtaposed with the uncertainty and obscurity of not knowing how this transition will impact my life. I was 11 at the time. Now, 10 years later, I have a clear vision of the consequences. 

Continue reading after the jump.

 

In high school, I did not get the chance to get a driver’s license because I am undocumented. I did not work like any other because I am undocumented. I was constantly emotionally terrorized by what people would think about me because I am undocumented. During the past month, I helped register 460 people to vote even though I can’t vote because I am undocumented. 

I will graduate in May with an awesome degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and my life will be placed on hold because I will not be able to exercise this degree because I am undocumented. And not because my parents or I committed a crime but because of a broken immigration system. I have had the chance of getting in the “line” through my citizen sister’s petition, a privilege that not many enjoy, to find out that I have to wait for 15 years until I get my papers. I am 8 years into the process. That’s 7 more years full of desperation and fear of deportation. 7 years in which I can help make this country a better place to live with my degree and passion to serve. 

If I were to go back to that hot summer night in which I arrived in the U.S., I would not change anything. I have fallen in love with the ideals that this country stands for and feel immensely grateful for the opportunity I have received. I am involved in a National immigrant youth led movement whose purpose is to help undocumented students have a fair shot in achieving their DREAMs and move on with their lives, and not many people get to do that. It does not matter how many rallies, letter writing or phone-banking campaigns, we will keep fighting for our dreams because at the end of the day it is a good fight, it’s the right fight! My name is Loren, I am undocumented and I am unafraid.