Explore the immigrant experience through the eyes of Alexis, Rachel, and Pratishtha: three undocumented immigrants who were brought to this country at a young age, and have been temporarily granted partial—but not full—protection against deportation. Determined to clarify their futures despite their murky status, they set out to talk to fellow immigrants who’ve found success, learning that lines on a map don’t make you who you are. It's not where you're born, but where you go in life, that defines you.

Beyond the Dream

INSIGHTS FROM THE FILM

Emerson Collective

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Everyone seems to have a voice in the immigration debate—except immigrants, themselves. Hear immigrants tell their stories in their own words, on their own terms—and for the first time.

When I turned five, I remember packing up for something. &gt;&gt; What are you gonna do? Your parents tell you you're gonna move and then you move, that's it. &gt;&gt; As a child, I don't think I planned for any of it. [MUSIC] &gt;&gt; When I'm living my every day life, I don't go around thinking I am an undocumented immigrant. As young adults in general, we're all pretty unclear about what we're gonna do with our lives. The documented aspect becomes a lot more complicated and just unclear. I've worked so hard for everything I have and I don't want it to just get taken away like that. [MUSIC] &gt;&gt; This summer I am traveling with &gt;&gt; Two people that are completely strangers to me. &gt;&gt; From L.A. to D.C. and we are going to interview great people who have led unique and interesting lives. &gt;&gt; They've had their fair share of struggles, and they're bringing about a change. &gt;&gt; What I'm hoping to get out of this road trip is a little more confidence, a little more fearlessness. I want to be unapologetic about existing. &gt;&gt; I don't want to be known as doing nothing. I don't wanna live my life and saying I could have done that or I could have made a difference and then I didn't because I was afraid. &gt;&gt; I knew everything my parents had sacrificed and I knew everything I had sacrificed and I wasn't willing to give up. &gt;&gt; Just to have people around me that know what I'm going through. It's really nice. &gt;&gt; Not everyone's gonna be pulling for you. Well, that's gonna happen to you in life whether you're an undocumented immigrant or a blond kid from Bowling Green, Kentucky whose family never went to college. &gt;&gt; Don't use being undocumented as some sort of a crutch that you can hold on to, because remember it's a policy thing. It's a political thing, it's a piece of paper thing. You are way more than being undocumented. &gt;&gt; If I get disappointed and I say I give up. I will never know what's ahead of me. If not me, then who? If not now, then when? [MUSIC] It's me, and it's right now. [MUSIC] 

Beyond the Dream Trailer

I remember us packing up for something. grandma. happening. coming. meant saying goodbye to a life that I was so flight and the sliding doors at the airport checkout. a lot of the things. it was all so new. a stuffed husky at the gift shop. what are you gonna do? gonna move and then you move, that's it. I don't think I planned for any of it. the states most heavily effected, but large numbers of illegal aliens entering our country. Chairman Alan Greenspan told us illegal immigration is be about keeping America safe from ISIS. a wall. here, brought here oftentimes by their parents, Americans. have any right to be here. there shouldn't be any. the only thing I wanted was to be normal. and ask God, just make me normal. the United States at a young this. for Childhood Arrivals and qualifications with a way to stay and basis. the reason why I have a job and around. to citizenship or country. for two years and years. taken away is very, very scary. >> Pratishtha: Two people that I lived in Mexico until I was five. I'm 23 years old. New Jersey when I was in fourth grade. Pratishtha. I was almost 11 years old. country from LA to DC to unique and interesting lives. their fair share of struggles change. me some sort of direction on I don't know right now. >> Rachel: Currently, at the expansion of DACA and protect immigrant parents of US citizens. ruling of that case during this trip. I see some green. over here. you expect us to drive that. thing I've ever seen. >> Alexis: I think I have an undie for here. adjacent to San Diego. you'd find yourself in Mexicali, born at. over there and then it. Mexicali, it was unpaved. it was all fancy looking to me. being able to go out, and being behind the fence. my freedom to be taken away. about why my mom and dad decided to bring me here. corporations, megastores, coming in. drove out the smaller mom and pop shops. drove my parents to look for getting a little rough. California identification, card that they're asking me for. my passport from Mexico. I needed to be here legally. like you're neither here nor there. America. to teach American U.S. I think that's funny American, but I am. I pay the taxes, a lot of taxes. next generation which is something that I love. on the country that you so get out of this road trip is a little more fearlessness. of taking up space anymore. existing. Los Angeles. Jose Antonio Vargas. award winning journalist. called Documented. >> I live the American dream building journalist. the New York Times magazine. was I wanted to document my own story. write my story but let me provide the platform for to take immigration out of this box that make it broader, and and make it more human. people like me in the community. Coast. what my place in this conversation is and these assumptions of me and me without knowing me. will just know me as an undocumented person. greatest ironies to being undocumented. of paper, yet just a piece of paper. as I did a couple of days ago, guaranteed 100 messages. person, get the hell outta here. really hurtful, right? are the long ones, the long thought out. >> Kind of like, they spellcheck this. >> Right, I'm like, hate mail. summers ago, actually right after my film aired, these expectations that people have of me. of a group of people, have. on internalizing struggles with are like you're not just Indian. hard to get to your dream. that has its own connotation. that you struggle with all the time. you. that deal with so many identities. out like you're trying to figure it out. longer. the central struggle and question, your generation being somebody like this. yourselves to give people and you give to yourself. right? this is who I am, this is my name, then what are we doing? we admire. crutch that you can hold to. yourself and creating for of success is this idea is to connect with one another. fundamental things that I still deal with every day. [MUSIC] was. bed. your life. to make sure I'm in the present, to let go of any fears. happens. >> So, I'm about to take off and paragliding. would ever have the guts to do. my equipment and he's like, start walking toward it. just keep walking off of it. and I'm 23 years old. since I was about nine or ten. I came to Pueblo, Colorado. street that I'm undocumented. grown up in New Jersey, so Jersey. go but where are you really from? because I than anyone else. my parents tell me about the fact that I, other people my age. deportation themselves and them to be here any longer. by myself. I don't really have family here. young adults in general. more complicated. about myself, and my future and have no idea what I'm doing, where I'm going. my life is gonna be now. things that I could be, that I should be. of those things, how to do any of those things. things, so I don't know. everything. lost and I'm a failure for the rest of my life. now. run, run. >> my God beginning like i could do it. I just think, are you crazy? you have to smile for the camera. anymore. up in the clouds now. beautiful. making our way towards Utah. it kinda became like very real and salient to us, road, like, this is a road trip. humbling. holy moly. not something that was meant for us. couldn't drive. really important to me, to kind of declutter. fourteen years now. sciences. aspire to go to medical school. my family. path to take. day, the place to be. from my dad. the United States in 2001 and in 2002. year, so months. close. working at a gas station. night shifts. with other employees. was made out of milk crates. I finished school. school. myself is I'll fall off track. bigger picture. heading to Voto Latino. >> Welcome to Las Vegas. that we've ever had. here. when I was in college, I am undocumented. and then when I was 14, undocumented. mean, be documented and work and then I didn't. wall, I only had two choices, drop out of school. so that's what I did. bank, Goldman Sachs, an undocumented immigrant. to that moment. how did you build up that audacity consider criminal? willing to give up. citizen who was born here, they're an American citizen, documents. to let that define me either, that defined me. to be my work. regretted it all my life. caught, and I got deported. just a check mark that said  grade that job. made you just leave that and what would be a dream for really risky? spoke to me. story. do it. use my experiences, doors for other people. and for permission? Antonio Vargas do all the work? question. perspective to the table and and share their stories. economist. that I think are really amazing. an immigration activist interested in. to me. gotten you this far. how far you've come and >> Joining us today in this conversation. New Black. >> Please welcome Diane Guerrero. the shame. hear people talking about it and >> I was always interested in doing my parents lived. all I want is for and they're all happy and that I can make them proud. was a really to stay in the States. you find the kitchen empty. their cars were there and but I couldn't find them. the neighbors told you? wanna do or what, by myself. it worked out. that they did and that just work, so I continued with that. decided to say I'm going to me. community. I'm curious, what would you pursuing the career of their dreams? >> But they're alsot hinking in the back of their mind, >> I don't know if I want to risk that, lives, for it in some way. gonna go and try to do that. wanted to do, 20-somethings, and how to be people in society. is just so gonna be cranky. successful and and it made me feel good. >> And because it makes me feel good. were cause I wanted to tell my story. would influence people and and what was happening to me. interview and I'm getting seen. is that it is so difficult for and to become legal. relief for them and >> Now I need to say something that matters. you love and passionately wanted to do. "Justicia!" you know? >> You have to be passionate about to be successful in it and provide for yourself and your family. lot of ourselves in these people. been deported before. and provide for her family. that you keep seeing in everyone that from back home, we get along so well. what I'm going through, interview Mabel Arellanes, lawyer in New Mexico. would know about this woman, and she said, so after you have your baby? I'm just gonna go back to work. working for me? said yes, of course. going to college. go to college and [LAUGH]. Mijita, you will never be social security number. and I said what do you mean. go to college and I got home and college, I'm gonna go to college. Mexico and we were able to pass to go to college. a university. thought, crap, what am I gonna do now? >> [LAUGH] [LAUGH]. >> And I actually work nights. would pay with that. day and then I would work nights. I wanted to go to law school. first semester. on the floor cause I was so stressed out. things started snowballing. during law school where I thought the people around me. my family, my community, for the everyday injustices. who's my pillar, my everything, single day until I took the bar. out, it was the swearing in ceremony. are there, obviously my family. justices walked in and said Mabel, a layperson. of this building, you're gonna be an attorney. realized, and colors. there's an army of people. do it with the heart. 'si, se puede.' 15 will most likely barred attorney 15 years later. really long, really, really hard. to where I wanna get to. skipping meditation, out just fine. again? >> It's happening. feet? that's super scary, this ends. go back to real life. or being mad about here. whole live in the moment thing, kind of ignored it all. ever done that in my life. mind. >> [LAUGH] administration a major defeat on immigration. people who would have benefited. going forward. the 23rd. was, it's a deadlock. that nothing's for sure. that because I worked so this uncertainty. ago this December, and all experienced is. something about it, and changed would be for myself, to say, this isn't right. scholarship. couldn't really give much advice. Bowling Green, Kentucky. so I talked to my faculty advisor. and I said architecture. really good at math and >> So that's how I became a doctor. >> Man, so it in the immigration movement head this has gotta change. as a republican, and- the immigration movement, opinions. republican, but I really vote by heart. Melissa who arrived here before opposed to my children. about this, her mom's name is Maria. this, I didn't realize this. he's cooking hamburgers. either, and we got him into school. that's kind of good. I got two kids in college again. >> My wife the wrong direction, Mike. >> We need to work on this a little bit, and we'll help a lot of kids. probably would not have gone $3,250,000, and of that? gotten out of that. in the course of their lifetime would've income. educate children. whole country better. when you look into this immigration issue, people still in our country who are so of those people in person, and- like? for you or against you.  agree with what your doing. citizens to college? scholarships within reason, or ability to borrow money. but we can all disagree. everything, but you're also human beings. but I was pretty determined to try. you in life whether you're a blonde kid from Bowling Green, never went to college. divert, but I'll get back on track. and I never had that before. so, so quick. interview, which is with Julieta Garibay. advocacy group for school, my mother and my sister and to Mexico. here, cause I was like but I don't understand why I'm not. you're too Americanized, culture shock, [LAUGH] here in the US. country of origin and my dream my whole life. I love nursing. DREAM Act, get me papers supposedly and never done organizing. nursing, nursing. that's why I got involved, practicing nursing and has now become United We Dream. organization, what it's been like and through your head when you first began? would be part get arrested for a cause. we gotta throw down and that DACA didn't come freely. President Obama waking up one day and and cute and studious. no, we demand something and it doesn't mean I'm protected. system is still against me. week ago and I was telling her like, doing DREAM Act stuff and not that same woman anymore. cause I want her to walk to streets being told something mean or because she's a Mexican proud woman. migrate to this country. wanna do. the struggles we've gone through. old or 47 years old, have to look in the mirror and right? say, yes or no to you. like you, you give them a hand. this country free. just through her story and have such different stories, regardless of who we are. we have to keep in mind just the dreamer. on ourselves sometimes. a little bit, because even if thing, like I can't and I shouldn't. worked for me to have this. break through barriers. love your courageous parents. biggest things that I didn't like about there is just a whole group of people like me and contrary sides within reality. we all in the same thing. competing with each other, fighting with each other. to change the system. immigration reform or to them. opinion, there are real issues to talk about they became injustices. a chance to reach their dreams. else I can do for other people, now to live my life and year, two years than I was before. before today, I would be doing this and happy, but I am. be United We Dream. everything the way it's presented guild. have been a change. I say, I give up, the solution to things. everything, but always ask yourself, 

[MUSIC] Before I got DACA I stuck to California. I for a long time could not leave the city of San Diego. >> I don't ever really travel and see places. And I always kinda felt like I was contained in a way, because I wasn't allowed to travel outside of the US, obviously. >> The idea being of undocumented yet freely touring a country that you call home. It's so foreign. [MUSIC] >> We're at Zion National Park in Utah. >> None of us have been here before. >> This looks like something, yeah, out of like postcard. >> This is my first national park and the one place that we went to in Zion was The Narrows. >> We had been hanging at these big cities, but Zion it was just nature. It was like a very good resetting point. [MUSIC] >> We were just in awe, all of us. We have this opportunity. Four years back, I couldn't drive, so I wouldn't be eligible for this part on the road trip. [MUSIC] >> While I was here I literally just lived day by day because I've never been in a place in life I feel like where I just can just be like where ever i am and just be present [MUSIC] >> I'm in this amazing spot, in a moment that's only gonna happen once and I keep telling myself like my God you're here. You're here, like take advantage of it, live in the moment. >> Just to be on the road was a lesson that this moment will only last you for this time. >> Wish you were here too. >> I am more excited now to live my life and see where I'm gonna be in a year or two years than I was before because they feel like I could do a lot of things. [MUSIC] >> I'm not as crazy as I thought I was because I met people that have done crazier things than what I wanna do. And I feel like I'm gonna be taking risks, and I can do it. >> We've learned so much we've heard so many things and we are so full of potential. I hope the world is ready. [MUSIC] 

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[MUSIC] I would want to ask about their role with undocumented students. [MUSIC] >> I'm excited to learn what they do. If the program has a lot of like, undocumented students, how they feel about themselves. >> But also specifically with Cindy, she's their operations manager. And I'm just wondering what pushed her into this and like, how did she end up at College Track? >> I wonder if she had like, limitations. Cuz it takes a certain type of background to do this kind of work. So I wonder if there were limitations in her path to college and like, what makes her stick to this. >> Nice to meet you. >> Nice to meet you. >> What inspired you to be part of this organization and really dedicate like a big part of your life to these students? And not only to them, but their families, whose lives are going to change after they graduate from college in this community. >> It's important for me that our students have that possibility that they can go to school. So I'm Operations Manager and Family Engagement Coordinator. So one of my roles is to support our families to make sure that our students are applying to DACA. And so it's been an incredible journey to just support this group of students. I'm from El Salvador, I came to the United States when I was eight years old. My mom left me at age four with my grandma and my sister that was two years old at the time. Obviously searching for the American dream. And so my mom trusted a coyote to bring me to the United States. And so I remember being with a group of people and I was the only child. Since the day I got here, you know how you start getting little certificates at school, for perfect attendance, or you're culminating. I remember my mom collecting all those documents and putting them in a folder. And I didn't understand like what that meant. But it's was actually material she was collecting to submit to a lawyer so that I can be a resident. And that process started when I was eight years old and it wasn't until I was a sophomore in high school that I became a resident. And so, you actually needed a Social Security to be part of a federal program. Whereas here in College Track we don't ask for that. We support a lot of Dreamers. There's those students that just touch your life in that I see my story in a lot of them. And I've built really great relationships with them that I feel have impacted their lives into pursuing a higher education. >> if I didn't have College Track, I honestly wouldn't volunteer as much as I do now. I would usually be at home, shying away. >> This year, the statistics of a student graduating from College Track is actually 100%. 99% of them have already got accepted to a college. >> But it's the stories of our students. Someone believed in me one day. And I tell them all the time, I believe in you, you're gonna do great things. And education, no one's ever gonna take that away from you. Some of them, they've probably never heard that. And so it's amazing, I love my job. 

DREAMers Roadtrip

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