Adela Zamora left Mexico to join her parents in New York when she was 8 years old and grew up to earn a degree in accounting from Queens College. She has longed to return to Mexico to see her relatives but worried that as an undocumented immigrant for 30 years, and a DACA recipient since 2012, she would not be able to return legally.
Adela finally got to make that visit this spring, when she was among 30 Dreamers from New York — most of them CUNY students and alumni — who traveled to Mexico in a study-abroad program led by CUNY Citizenship Now!
“When I finally heard the [flight attendant] say, ‘Welcome to Mexico, bienvenida a Mexico,’ that’s when it really hit me — I started to cry,” Adela said.
Over the next 10 days, she and her fellow travelers visited their hometowns and reconnected with relatives they hadn’t seen since they were young children. They absorbed the culture of their native country and participated in educational and community service activities. Adela visited the aunt with whom she lived before joining her parents in the U.S., and she went with her grandfather to see her grandmother’s gravesite. “I took flowers, I took candles, and I cleaned her place,” she said. “It felt good to be of service to him, to be able to finally let him know that I’m here.”
For the Dreamers, the trip was educational and emotional — and potentially a step toward getting a green card. To re-enter the country, each had to obtain a travel authorization for non-citizens known as advance parole. The document doesn’t guarantee re-entry but CUNY Citizenship Now! attorneys worked with the New York office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to gain permission for the students to travel outside the United States and re-enter legally.
One of the lawyers traveled with the students and prepared them for interviews by Customs and Border Protection officers at JFK Airport. Not only were they readmitted successfully, but that official interview completed one of the requirements for immigrants seeking legal residency.
We were proud to offer this rare opportunity to our CUNY Dreamers, who strengthen our University community with their courage, perseverance and commitment to pursuing a college education. And we’re grateful to Mixteca, CFE International and the Hispanic Federation for partnering with us to fund the trip.
The trip reflected CUNY’s deep bond with New York’s immigrant communities. In recent years, we have greatly expanded our immigrant student success efforts, particularly by helping Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients earn degrees and pursue fulfilling careers as Americans and New Yorkers.
Being a DACA recipient has protected Dreamers from deportation but has kept many in what can feel like a permanent state of limbo, and unable to travel abroad.
“Stepping out of the country was something I feared,” Adela said. “And now that I’ve done that, I can concentrate on things like finishing my master’s degree.”
Matos Rodríguez is the chancellor of The City University of New York (CUNY), the largest urban public university system in the United States.
