Undocumented Immigrants Share Their Stories With GRC

By: Valentin Dreher
Staff Writer

Georgina Pacheco left her childhood home in Yucatan, Mexico, at age nine to pursue a better life in the United States.

Her parents decided that there was a better life for their family in the United States, so they got on a Greyhound bus and crossed the border with their three kids — on a tourist visa. “Leaving my old neighborhood and the friends of my childhood tore my heart apart,” Pacheco said. “Up to this day, I cannot ride a Greyhound bus without feeling nauseous.”

Pacheco has never seen the town of her childhood again. For 28 years she has tried to build a life in the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant. She is now 37 and lives in Kent with her three children.

This quarter, Pacheco enrolled at Green River for the first time. She says registering for the college was not easy. “I was first told that because I am not a U.S. citizen, I would have to pay the significantly higher out-of-state tuition,” she said. “I had to explain uncomfortably that I have been living in this state for almost three decades. I feel like some staff members could be more sensitive towards people like me.”

Pacheco has big plans with her college degree. She is planning to go to law school and study human rights to strengthen the Latino community. “If we do not know our rights, they will be taken away,” she said. “In my political science class, I have learned that change is made by the oppressed. And Latinos are the scapegoats of the 21st Century.”

Before entering the law, however, Pacheco is determined to affect change at Green River. She is advocating to establish new programs to help undocumented students thrive.

“Green River has a program to assist first-generation college students. But undocumented students are not eligible for this program because it is financed through federal funds,” Pacheco said.

Elizabeth Rangel, coordinator at the Office of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, speaks on her position in supporting undocumented students like Pacheco. “We have resources in my department to help assist our undocumented students,” said Rangel. By enrolling in a college, Pacheco is taking a step that only a few undocumented students are willing to take. According to the U.S. Department of Education, just 5 to 10 percent of undocumented high school graduates are able tp pursue higher education.

An undocumented immigrant who is  yet to take this step is Claudia Flores. She attended a panel discussion at Green River, part of the college’s “One Book” series on undocumented immigration earlier this month. Flores explained that she understood what it meant to be undocumented when she graduated from high school.

“I just realized: ‘Oh, I can’t get this job, I can’t get into this university,’” she said. “I am not pursuing higher education right now because that would mean I would have to jump through another hoop to get enrolled.”

Pacheco knows these problems from her community. She said that a lot of well educated but undocumented immigrants get discouraged by the United State’s strict employment laws. One of the most popular policies to try and mend this is the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.

“A friend of mine has a college degree as a medical assistant, but she does not qualify for DACA, so she is staying home all day, finds no purpose and therefore suffers from depression,” Pacheco said. Without being admitted to DACA, working in the US is illegal for undocumented immigrants.

Pacheco herself has experienced how hard it can be to succeed at a college as an immigrant without papers. “Getting a college degree has been hard for me,” she said. “In the past ten years, I tried to go back to college three times. At some point, there was just not enough money to pay for tuition.”

Pacheco took one step towards her academic success when she applied for DACA in 2016. She recounted that the financial aid department at Green River College has been extremely beneficial in providing funds for her to pay tuition as a DACA recipient.

She hopes that her children, who are all American citizens, will have easier access to higher education. Sure enough, her daughter is apart of the GRC running start program.

Pacheco believes that education can make society better. “Education can empower people to give back to society. It also decreases poverty and violence at the same time.” Pacheco is highly motivated to finish her degree at Green River, regardless of all the obstacles she faces as an undocumented immigrant.