Aggie Dreamers hold candlelight vigil
Around 40 community members, Utah State University students and faculty attended a candlelight vigil outside Old Main Wednesday night. The group Aggie Dreamers organized the event to raise awareness of undocumented students in the USU community.
Sofia Rodriguez started Aggie Dreamers in August 2017 as a student-run organization through the Access and Diversity Center to help undocumented students find the resources they need to gain an education and be successful.
At the vigil, she shared the story of finding out her undocumented status as a young teenager and being able to stay in the United States as a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Last year, her mother was deported to Argentina.
People participate in the candlelight vigil Wednesday night.
“It changed my life,” she said. “It really shapes the way I think and see the world.”
“Immigration is an issue that is coming to light in America,” Rodriguez said. “We felt a vigil was the best way to bring a human perspective and show the issue for what it really is – a human rights issue.”
Senior Stephen Baker said, “I had heard about DACA but didn’t realize the impact it had on so many people. What you’re fighting for is just.”
Rodriguez said she hoped the event would help bring more community support for the many students at Utah State who are undocumented and raise awareness of the impacts undocumented status has on their lives.
“Our organization is still small, and we’re hoping this event will at least spark some interest,” Rodriguez said. “I think that it can be hard to gather that attention because there’s a lot of miscommunication and a general lack of knowledge regarding immigration.”
Angelica Traslavina, a USU student and member of Aggie Dreamers, said the organization is not just for DACA students, but for anyone to wishes to learn about the issues undocumented students face and how to support them.
Traslavina also shared her experience of having a hard time finding resources as an undocumented student, such as scholarships or financial aid.
“We hope we can help students not feel so isolated. It can be hard to express that part of yourself,” Traslavina said.
USU student Ketzel Morales recently started becoming involved in Aggie Dreamers.
“I want to be an advocate for these students,” Morales said. “We planned this event because we would like people to hear these stories and try to understand them.”
People participate in the candlelight vigil Wednesday night.
Morales said some of the ways students can show support include calling local representatives in support of the Dream Act, doing research on American immigration and DACA, and being understanding of those who don’t want to share their immigration status, even if you are friends.
Morales said people need to understand that undocumented students aren’t trying to necessarily hide or keep something a secret. “They’re really just trying to be careful,” she said.
She said it’s “scary” to live in fear of deportation or of losing your family. “A lot of students are brought here very young and don’t know any country but the United States,” Morales said. “This is our home.”
Crescencio Lopez teaches Spanish and is USU’s 2018 Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentor of the Year. Lopez came to the United States illegally 30 years ago, when he was only 16.
Lopez shared his experience receiving documentation through the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 and being allowed to continue his education, only to have his legal status stripped from him in his second year at college.
“I have been in their shoes,” Lopez said. “I believe that giving these students a path to legal status would change the future.”
Lopez read an original poem titled “Ms. Liberty, Why Have You Forsaken Us?”
“Tonight, I call on you Ms. Liberty! Praying with my eyes closed that you will stop the violence against the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to break free,” he read from the poem. “Tonight, I call on your name Ms. Liberty to join the resistance and fight together for freedom and justice for all.”
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