In 2012, President Obama issued an Executive Order creating a program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Many young men and women that arrived in the United States as young children found in this program the comfort to come out of the shadows, become civically engaged, and live productive lives by pursuing their education and accessing better jobs. At Puente, we were able to respond immediately by contacting every youth we knew who was potentially eligible and provide assistance to complete their DACA applications through pro-bono attorneys. (See Puente’s story: Puente helps bring youth into the light.)

Later in 2014, through a new Executive Order, the President authorized a program for parents of U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents (DAPA), as well as an extension of DACA to benefit even a wider range of youth. Almost immediately, the new programs were put on hold by a District Court in Texas. At Puente, we were assisting many community members, including Susana Arias (pictured below), with applications and had to put those on hold, too. (See Puente’s story: Trapped: local immigrants hope for legal relief, with Puente’s help.)

Speaking with Susana Arias yesterday about the Supreme Court decision, she said:

“I feel sad because I was expecting them to approve it. I feel impotent because many people have done a lot for this to happen and with this decision it is like going back to the beginning. Mostly I feel that it is better to have a TIE than aNO. We will keep fighting for this to happen. We will keep trying our best to prove that what we are asking for is worthy. Hope dies last.”

Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 4-4 on the extension of DACA and DAPA.  This tie vote means the lower court’s ruling to block the program stands.

The ripple effects for families on the South Coast

Many families and advocacy groups in the country have been waiting for the Supreme Court to issue a decision on this case. Their ruling yesterday reveals unfortunate news for many in our community and millions of other families around the country. On the South Coast, it directly impacts 120 parents that Puente had already identified and worked with to collect the necessary documents and save for the anticipated application fee. They are mostly farmworkers men and women who are the backbone of our agriculture industry.

For families here and around the country, this means they will not be eligible for protection from deportation or for permits that will allow them to work legally in the U.S.

“I feel disappointed because we were waiting for this opportunity to work legally and stop being seen as a burden to the United States, which we are not. We pay our taxes and we want to work legally. I came here in 2001 seeking a better future for my family. The economy in Guanajuato was very bad,” says Lucia Herrera, mother of 3, English as a Second Language Student, Early Childhood Educator in training.  (Her name has been changed.)

President Obama called the decision “heartbreaking for the millions of immigrants who have made their lives here.”

Just yesterday, a local youth attending college to become a veterinarian was denied an internship with a vet in Half Moon Bay because of her legal status. She was counting on the Supreme Court to rule in favor of her having a work permit. She has been in the U.S. for many years, is a graduate of Pescadero High School, and is pursuing higher education. She has done her part to be involved in her community. Today her future is unknown.

We want to clarify to our friends and current DACA holders that the program authorized in 2012 is still in effect and yesterday’s court decision does not impact that program. We have seen the benefits of employment authorization in the lives of our young people and we will continue to advocate for the families that rely on programs such as this to live without fear. (See Puente’s story:Three-year milestone finds DACA youth thriving at school and work.)

We are devastated to know our neighbors and friends will remain in the shadows.  We pledge to do whatever we can to make sure that every person that lives in our community has the opportunity to live up to their highest hopes and dreams.
Rita Mancera

Executive Director, PUENTE
Puente is hosting a Law Night on Tuesday, June 28, at 7:00 pm, in the multipurpose room of Pescadero Elementary. More information about the implications of the Supreme Court decision will be provided there. Other partner organizations will also address employment rights and landlord-tenants’ rights. Please join us!

If you cannot make it, please pass the following information on to your friends and families:

• Avoid working with notarios. You need an attorney or an approved immigration representative to help you navigate the immigration system in the U.S.
• Continue maintaining a clean record and stay involved in your community
• If you have never seen an attorney, seek one or an organization that provides pro-bono or low-cost immigration services to see if you qualify for any other immigration benefits

One of the weirdest – and best – moments of Brandon Marin’s summer so far was a team-building game he played during orientation for Puente’s Youth Leadership and Employment Program, called “Moles.” Students had to balance on tree stumps in groups, and find ways to work together to avoid falling off.

“We all had to share a stump. It’s a small stump. And we all had to, like, hold on to each other so we didn’t fall off. We all laughed a lot,” says Marin.

That night at YMCA Camp Jones Gulch (one of the first sleep-away camp experience for many of these students), the group bonded around a campfire. Marin’s cabin stayed up past midnight, telling local ghost stories and having an animated and insightful conversation about current issues for youth . It changed how he saw the other kids at school, especially the ones he doesn’t talk to.

“I’ve never really hung out with the cool kids, I guess” Brandon has focused more on school and family.

Orientation offered the first surprises of the summer for the 34 students in Puente’s youth program. In its tenth year, the program continues to draw a mix of participants aged 14 to 21 – boys and girls, Latino and Anglo – with the promise of a paid summer internship. Students get to work in the education sector, as summer camp counselors, and at regional nonprofits and companies. They emerge strong and confident with a set of marketable job skills, new friends, and an incomparable experience.

The work is only part of it. It’s about improving students’ academic performance at school, building a vision for college, helping them put together an updated resume and cover letter, and exposing them to the world of adulthood – as Marin discovered last summer. The athletic sophomore credits his first summer with Puente, as a freshman, with a new perspective on the value of work and getting good grades at school.

Youth at their program orientation.

“I feel like I’ve matured a lot more compared to last year. The program’s intensive. I realized that when I got to high school I needed to do better,” he says.

To drive the point home at orientation, Puente asked a panel of recent high school graduates to discuss important academic requirements for graduation. A separate panel of college students and graduates spoke openly and frankly about the college experience and how to be better prepared. Puente staff also personally work on-on-one with students on their summer reading projects to help them have a strong start at school in August.

“This program is very unique. We do a very good job of embracing education and having that be a part of everything we do, from beginning to end,” says Puente Education Director Noel Chavez.

The importance of education may seem obvious, but not to some students in Pescadero, who sometimes have remedial schoolwork in the summer or earn barely passing grades. Adrian Amezquita-Martinez, 14, nearly failed his freshman year. This is his first summer with Puente.

“My mom wanted me to do it. l’m struggling in school and it would really help boost up my grades and my GPA,” says Amezquita-Martinez, who only just avoided summer school. He recently decided to go to a four-year college so he can get the best possible job to support his family. His mother is single and raising three children with what she can earn working in agriculture.

He and his cohort will be having lots of fun this summer, too. Puente is sponsoring field trips to UC Berkeley, Santa Clara University, the San Jose Museum of Art and San Francisco’s Mission District.

This year, students will also learn about film editing, thanks to a partnership with NV4Y, An outreach project of the League of Women Voters of South San Mateo County and Palo Alto. They will use their camerawork and creativity to tell their own stories, with the goal of making a film from scratch and presenting it to the group at the end of the summer.

“We live in a part of Silicon Valley where everything is technology-driven. They’ll learn a lot about each other and from each other. They’ll learn they can create their own stories and have a positive impact on the community,” says Chavez. Orientation also included CPR training, a workshop on sexual health, and tips on providing good customer service.

For many youth, the best part is what they learn on the job. Depending on their age, interests and level of experience, they could be working at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, or at Cañada College, mentoring high school students – two new internships Puente helped create this year. They could be supervising preschoolers at the Half Moon Bay Library or be counselors, and role models, to the younger kids attending summer camp.

What Brandon Marin wants this summer is the chance to learn on the job. He wants to be a radiologist someday. But for now, since he is taking summer classes, he’ll be learning how to interact with co-workers and the public at the Puente office in Pescadero, while Adrian supports the local district Panther Camp working in the classroom assisting the teacher.

We are grateful for the generous support of Kim and Philip Schiller, the Sobrato Family Foundation, Philanthropic Ventures Foundation, the La Honda-Pescadero Unified School District, Wells Fargo and many individual donors who all help make our Youth Leadership program possible in 2016.

You can help, too! Please donate today. 

College was not something that I ever thought could be possible. I came to this country with my mom when I was only seven months old. My biological father left my mom when he found out she was pregnant and never showed any support. The first three years of my life were difficult, there were times that I wouldn’t see my mom because she worked two jobs in order for her to provide for me. She then met my dad (the man who has really taken on the role of being my dad) and things got easier for both of us. I had someone who I could count on when my mom had to work and who could provide emotional support for both of us.

Growing up I never really understood what it meant not to have ‘legal status.’ I always knew that I was born in Mexico and that if anyone ever asked me questions I should not answer them. When high school came around and I started seeing that you needed a social security and proof of legal residence to apply for scholarships, financial aid and when you applied for school, I came to a realization that I might never be able to go any further than a high school diploma.

It was really disappointing for me because my mom had brought me to this country to better myself and for me to have an education. There was a time when I thought that everything that my parents had sacrificed for was not worth anything. So, during my sophomore year of high school, I really did not care about my education. I hardly went to school and failed three courses. Luckily for me, someone came into my life who gave me a whole different prospective on viewing things. I was assigned a mentor from UC Santa Cruz, she would come into my geometry class once a week and made sure that I was doing my work. She noticed that I was not into it at all and that I had zero motivation. One day she invited me to the campus after listening to our teacher tell us that in college we do not receive any help and it was just going to be double the work.

On our way to campus I explained to her why I thought college was not going to be for me and all she did was listen. The next day, we went to all her classes and I was surprised that her math class was about 200 students. She told me that when she didn’t understand something in class, she could get help at the campus. At the end of the day I was really excited knowing that I could also be living on campus, making new friends and getting a whole new experience. She then told me, “You are a smart young lady and you should never give up. Keep going forward and do not look back. I know that you will make it. I believe in you.” I came to realize that just because I did not have ‘legal status’ did not mean that I could not get the same experience as everyone else. I wanted to prove to everyone, especially myself, that I was able to accomplish my dreams even if it was going to be ten times more difficult.

My last two years of high school were really difficult. I took all the classes that I needed to take and during the summer I took a biology class through a local college in order for me to get the credits that I had missed during my sophomore year. June 8^th, 2012 came around and I had finally done it. I was able to graduate in the top 10 of my class and I was on my way to Sierra College. It was a very emotional day because I was the first in my family to graduate from high school and go to college. I remember seeing my parents cry because of how proud they were of me for never giving up.

During my four years of community college experience I started at Sierra College in Rocklin, CA, and then transferred to Hartnell College in Salinas, CA, and finally stayed in Monterey Peninsula College (MPC), in Monterey, CA. My dream was to go to school in the valley but things did not work out because it was hard for me to get a job. Then, I moved to Salinas with family members but it also did not work out for me. I decided to transfer to MPC because they offered many courses online and since I had moved back to Pescadero it was going to be easier for me. I did not want to transfer schools anymore and I really enjoyed going to a campus where I knew nobody and could meet new people, so I decided to make MPC my experience. In the spring of 2015, I meet with my counselor because I knew I would be ready to transfer to a four-year university. She explained to me that I also had the chance to graduate from MPC in spring of 2016 and I started crying.

I went with the intention to get guidance for me to transfer, and I came away with the knowledge that I was able to get my AA first. It was really emotional. I left her office and I called my mom and told her the news. I was the first one to going to college and now I would be getting an AA. I told her, “Mom, this is for you and all the sacrifices that you had to do in order for me to have this opportunity.”

Graduation came faster than I expected. Being in line, waiting for the moment where I was going to be walking across the stadium was nerve-racking. All I could think about was my parents, my siblings and all my friends who had come to support me. I thought about how only four years ago on a day like this I had graduated high school and now moments away I was going to graduate from community college on my way to a four-year university. I might not have gotten straight A’s but I was proud that a Latina woman who started from the bottom and overcame every obstacle that was put in her way was here.

Laura, center, with her brother Ivan and sister Abby.

When my name was read and I walked down to get my degree, I turned around and looked at my family; I was there because of them. I wanted my siblings to see that if I was able to accomplish this that they can accomplish anything they set their minds too. It was a really emotional day for my whole family. we cried and laughed. I dedicated my accomplishment to my parents and my siblings because they will always be my motivation. Getting an education involves dedication, sacrifice and commitment. I did not let my circumstance determine who I was or am going to become and I want my parents to see that their dedication, sacrifice, commitment and support was worth more than anything. We should always aim high, get up when we fall and dream like there are no borders.

Laura will attend California State University Monterey Bay in the fall, majoring in Pre-Law.