[testimonial]I let everything out. I screamed so hard that I lost my voice.[/testimonial]
Marco Malagón is a dreamer.
Since he crossed the border from Mexico on a moonlit night in 1999, Marco has climbed higher and higher. He’s worked his way up from fast food cook to industrial quality control to apprenticing for design engineers. He graduated from McKinney High School. He earned an Associates Degree at Collin County Community College. He took classes at the University of Texas at Dallas.
He’s always dreamed of being a doctor. But without a work permit or a Social Security number, Marco wouldn’t be able to use a medical degree to get a job. He’s decided to change the system that stands in the way of his dreams.
Now 31, Marco’s sights are set on moving the monumental machinery required to pass immigration reform. If passed, an estimated 11.5 million people in the U.S. could step into the light with legalized work and benefits. Marco serves as president of the North Texas Dream Team, an activist organization formed to push for immigrant rights.
In the past year, most of his team received work papers thanks to Obama’s decision to create the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in July 2012. The Deferred Action program gives many student immigrants without papers a way to get a work permit and a Social Security number.
Deferred Action is an opportunity for undocumented youth, but Marco and the Dream Team continue to push for change.
Deferred Action is not a solution for all undocumented immigrants.