Menu
“I needed money to go to Mass Maritime and since you’re an immigrant you don’t qualify for FAFSA [so I had] to work multiple jobs. I worked at Market Basket. I worked at a day care and I worked in the fishing industry as a truck driver.”
D.E.A.M.
D.E.A.M. is a Salvadoran-American Project Manager at a company that manufactures equipment to package food. He previously worked as a truck driver transporting seafood. In this excerpt, he discusses the challenges of being an undocumented immigrant and the sacrifices he and his family had to make to support themselves and their family back home. D.E.A.M. discusses the persistence required to attend college, where he earned a degree in Energy Systems Engineering, while working three jobs, and touches on the inequality in the seafood processing industry that many of his family members experienced.
This interview was originally conducted in English.
EN
KR
ES
VT
Background Information:
In El Salvador, a long civil war (1980-1992) exacerbated by U.S. funding, poverty, corruption, and gang violence, drove millions to seek refuge in other countries. D.E.A.M.’s family immigrated to the U.S. from El Salvador when he was a child. Roughly a third of undocumented immigrants like D.E.A.M. are considered “Dreamers.” Brought here as children, “Dreamers” often know only the United States as home, speak English fluently, and contribute significantly to our economy while also supporting family in their country of origin. Their protected status is dependent on graduating high school and maintaining a clean record.
