2023-06-18 10:41:35
DACA changed our lives.
As a former undocumented immigrant for more than 20 years, a former Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient, and a U.S. citizen for two years, I am part of a small group of people who were able to adjust their immigration status through a spouse. or family member, expanding my access and privilege to do things I could only dream about most of my life.
Growing up undocumented was the fight of my life, it prevented me from participating in youth sports, traveling on field trips, visiting family in Mexico, or applying for financial aid for college.
I dreamed of one day having the ability to serve and support the communities that I come from and those that need it most. DACA made that dream come true for me.
Those of us who have lived life as undocumented immigrants, and whose families continue to work, struggle, and sacrifice without the privilege of a Social Security number, know that life can be a cycle of exclusion, oppression, and hardship.
DACA was created as a short-term commitment at a time when no other long-term policy measures could be passed, but it has profoundly impacted our families and collective communities.
As the first former DACA recipient in the country to be appointed by the White House, I am proud to serve in an administration that values the importance of representation and works to protect the diversity that our country represents.
As a team member at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, I am proud to work for an agency that is paving the way for previously underserved communities to become first-time homebuyers, and often the first in their lives. families to own their own home.
DACA recipients can also receive free or low-cost counseling for home buying, renting, preventing mortgage default and foreclosure, transitioning from homelessness, or budgeting. simple, all through HUD-approved housing counseling agencies.
We live in a country where an undocumented girl who came from Chihuahua, Mexico, and raised in New Mexico, was able to receive the first presidential appointment in history to serve the country.
For hundreds of years, immigrant communities have come to this country with dreams and hope for a better life, in search of opportunity, with the willpower, resilience, desire to work, and strength that they have made America. what a great nation of immigrants it is.
In this country, the American Dream is truly real. I know because I live it day by day.
Cindy Nava is serving in the Biden-Harris Administration as Senior Advisor Policy Officer at the Department of Housing and Development’s Office of Field Policy and Management of the United States (HUD). Born in Chihuahua, Mexico, Nava is the first former beneficiary of DACA to receive a presidential appointment by the White House.
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