Julieta Garibay

Deputy Advocacy Advisor

United We Dream

Washington, DC USA

“Where there is darkness, there is also going to be light. But it doesn’t come fast; it comes through a lot of hard work, a lot of commitment.”

Videos

By Roadtrip Nation

Julieta Garibay

Milestones

My road in life has been direct.

She was brought to the United States from Mexico when she was 12 because her mom was running away from an abuser.

After graduating from high school, she realized she wouldn’t be able to go to college because of her undocumented status.

She made the difficult decision to move back to Mexico; however, when she arrived, she felt like an outsider because people would tell her she was too “Americanized.”

When she came back to the United States—still lacking papers—there was a pilot program in place to get undocumented Texans in-state tuition rates for college.

Went to Dallas Community College and got her associate’s degree in nursing, which had always been her dream job.

But when she heard about the DREAM Act, she realized she had a new purpose: she started organizing for the cause.

Co-founded the University Leadership Initiative (ULI) at the University of Texas, Austin, which was one of the first undocumented youth-led organizations in the nation.

ULI banded together with several other student-run groups to form United We Dream, now the largest immigrant youth-led organization in the country.

Keep following my journey