Being undocumented in
New York City
A Little About Me...
Hi all!
My name is Metzli and I am a 19 year old living in the New York. I was born in Mexico and I came to the United States at three-years-old. I am one of the many recipients under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Growing up in the United States as a first generation immigrant allowed me to see the world in a different way and my status played a big role in my identity.
High school was an important part in my life as it was the time I began to realize what it meant to be undocumented. My status became more significant when college began to come up both at home and school. I was fortunate enough to have an older sister with a similar experience as mine who served as a foundation to what I could achieve.
High school was also the time when I began my advocacy work and involvement with the undocumented community. I have gained a great passion for advocating for immigrant rights and providing undocumented students with resources to pursue a higher education.
I graduated from high school with honors and a 4.0 GPA. Now, I am currently attending Barnard College of Columbia University on a full scholarship.
About the blog...
During my time in high school I was the typical straight ‘A’ student. I was involved greatly in school. From being President for UNICEF to being Vice President for the National Honor Society. However, there was a handful of times where I felt my status affected my mental health and the way I saw myself.
College application time was a hard process for me, since freshman year I began preparing for college application season. As a sophomore I got recruited to be a College Youth Leader at my school. I was trained over the summer to help seniors apply to college. I conducted workshops and programs to expose high school students to college early on. As my time to apply to college got closer, just like everybody else, I researched endlessly and watched YouTube videos. However, I still felt alone and like I was going through the process all on my own. Nobody I knew talked about what it meant to apply to college while being undocumented. Unlike my peers, my college application path did not exactly mirror theirs.
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I want this blog to be that space I was looking for as a low-income undocumented student living in New York City.