» Benita Veliz

Video: DREAMers and Senator Durbin at Press Conference after Senate Hearing on the DREAM Act, June 28. The bright morning sun shone on my face as I walked up the steps of the metro stop at Union Station, hair bravely curled, blue suit and coral shirt in place. With mounting anticipation, I briskly walked to [...]

When I was a little girl my father announced to my two older brothers and I that he was taking us to the new movie theater in town. We had never been to a movie, so the three of us were super excited as we piled into the red beat-up 1977 Nova that my grandfather used to [...]

There are a few things that I absolutely love to do and would do all of the time if I could. I love to play piano, I love to sleep and I love to talk about the DREAM Act. I especially love to talk about the DREAM Act with people who don’t support it or people who [...]

On a bright Tuesday morning, I stumbled out of bed and into the khaki colored pants and white polo shirt that constituted the uniform at my high school. Sixteen years old and a senior, I was dropped off at 7 a.m., right outside the cafeteria, a weekday ritual for my brother and I. After breakfast, I spent some [...]

On a bright sunny afternoon in late August, I walked in front of my grandparents at a park near their modest home in a lower income neighborhood of San Antonio, Texas. I was eight years old, wearing new jean overalls that I had inherited from a nice family at our small church, when out of the corner of [...]

Kizuna More than two years ago, I walked down a pale yellow corridor, long dark hair tangled in the remnants of what once had been a braid, eyes brimming with tears, complexion paled and head down, staring at the black boots that covered most of my lower leg. An armed guard walked beside me, almost sympathetic to the [...]

I used to be convinced that my life was completely unique. Nearly six years ago, in the infinite wisdom of my 20-year old mind, I walked the stage to receive my Bachelor’s degree, thinking to myself that surely no one could understand what I was feeling at that moment. After four years of arduous work, of 21-hour semesters [...]