- For a month, I was inside that jail cell,
always looking out that window because I could not sleep.
To stay sane, I just counted how long
it would take that traffic light to turn from red to green,
hoping that this nightmare will end
and that my life will go back to normal.
(somber melancholic music)
Having been born in Peru and being of Chinese descent,
I'm definitely not your average Joe.
(somber melancholic music)
Across the street is where I used to live.
When Immigration came,
I was just getting ready to go to school.
I heard a loud knock.
When my mom opened the door, all of a sudden,
ICE agents started rushing in
and immediately handcuffed me and threw me inside a van.
I think the hardest thing was seeing my mom
being criminalized and being handcuffed
for coming to this country
and giving us a better opportunity.
(somber melancholic music)
Once my teachers and friends found out about this,
they came together to organize.
- [Female Anchor] The city college student
is said to be deported to Peru on Monday
where his family says he knows no one.
Friends of Steve Li are fighting for his freedom.
- He's gonna get sent away
to a country he knows nothing about.
- Ordinary people who have never
been to a rally, never been to a press conference,
they are the reason I'm here today.
(somber melancholic music)
Without DACA, I would have continued to live in fear,
I would have not been able
to get a driver's license, a work permit.
Not only are these physical things,
but also mentally, to know that you are accepted,
at least temporarily in a place that you call home.
(peaceful melancholic music)
- I was seven years old and we walked across the desert.
(peaceful acoustic music)
We're not big enough to have a Walmart
but we have a huge border patrol station, it's ginormous.
They're just everywhere,
I think there's more border patrol than anything else.
It's in high school.
I think I was the only one in my class
that was undocumented.
I did graduate top of my class.
All my friends were all getting ready to go to college
but I was probably gonna end up working
in the greenhouse and the fields
with my mom and my siblings.
That was gonna be my life and I knew that.
We were driving and we were the only ones on the road
and all of a sudden, we saw a border patrol car
and there was six other cars that surrounded us
like we were criminals or something.
One of the agents grabbed my mom by the collar.
He told me if I didn't shut up, he was gonna stick
a big ol' thing down my mouth
and I was gonna regret it and it was gonna hurt even worse.
(somber melancholic music)
The day that I found out that I got approved for DACA,
it was so emotional, it still is
just to think about that day
and all that I've been able to do since then.
I probably would not have had two kids if
I was not in a situation where
I could give them something better.
I got a really good job at the elementary school here.
If I can keep DACA, I can keep going with my life.
School, owning our first home,
maybe getting a bigger car.
I grew up here like this is my country,
this is the only place I know as home.
(somber melancholic music)
- The house down that way
is where we first arrived to the United States.
It had like three families in one apartment.
We used to live here
and then we got kicked out of the house.
And then actually like two blocks down,
I used to live there as well.
Used to live here in this corner as well,
still know everyone there.
I'll tell ya, I lived all over.
When we were walking home from school,
they actually shot someone right there on the bus stop.
(somber melancholic music)
I was about 10 years old, my dad went back to Mexico.
My grandma, she was on her deathbed.
As he tried to make his way back,
I believe he was caught and then deported.
As a kid, I honestly didn't really understand it.
I was pretty sure he was gonna come back.
Definitely my dad's absence,
we were destined to live in poverty essentially.
I started to find a family in the streets.
We were about to get in a fight in the classroom
and the principal came
and was like oh, I know you don't have people at home
but we care about you like in front of the class
and that's kinda when, something just triggered in my mind.
Fast forward five minutes after I had punched him,
I was in handcuffs.
The thing that really helped me persevere was
I said, "I'm not going to jail,
I'm not gonna end up dead.
that's not gonna happen to me."
A lot of my students hear my story
that I got expelled from punching the principal in the face
and they were like, "Yo, like how are you here?"
And that's when I said, "Because I worked.
Because there's another way out.
(somber melancholic music)
I'll be able to reconnect with my dad
for the first time in a really long while.
I mean, it's over 10 years for sure.
I had to get a passport for the first time ever
because I've never left the country.
All my my advance parole papers, so this is essentially
what'll get me into back into the United States.
I looked over five times
just 'cause I've been really nervous about this
but I mean I have the document,
I should be able to come back in.
I feel like I have a lot to lose here.
Little letters my kids have written me
so this is kinda keeps me grounded,
it's kind of my purpose for coming back.
(bright inspiring music)
I'm really scared that when I come back
into the United States,
they'll say, "I can't let you in for whatever reason."
Once I cross that line, I may never come back.
(hopeful inspiring music)
- This interview's gonna happen tomorrow
to determine if I'm eligible for legal residency.
I don't know if my nerves are gonna betray me
once I'm in the office.


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