Tuesday, November 1, 2011

We Are the 99%: UC Berkeley Edition

I was just ten years old when my family and I moved to the U.S. in 1990.  After waiting 20 years, the INS has denied me legal residency due to an immigration law reform after 9/11, which now categorized me as “too old”. Last year, I was admitted for undergraduate transfer to UC Berkeley with a 4.0 GPA.  Although my family and I pay taxes for our less than $30,000 annual income, I can’t apply for any student loans for financial aid because I am “illegal”.  I now risk losing my Berkeley admission because I don’t know how to afford the tuition. Maybe the American Dream is not for me, but I am still one of the lucky ones. I am not a criminal. I am not an “alien”. I am the 99%.

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