Help Pati Get Her Green Card!
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Help Pati Get Her Green Card!
Dear Family, Friends, and Community Members,
As some of you know, my name is Patricia Garcia, AKA Pati. I am here to ask for your support in raising $2,000 to begin the process of adjusting my undocumented status to permanent resident status.
When I was 7, I immigrated to the United States from Guadalajara, Mexico. Like many other immigrants, my parents came to the US for economic reasons while fleeing violence from their communities. Thanks to the laws that were passed in the 1990s both of my parents were able to adjust their status to become permanent residents. However, due to lack of knowledge, support, and access to resources, my parents did not file for me. This led me to live the first 24 years of my life as an undocumented youth and later as an undocumented adult. But it was laws like the Deferred Action for Early Childhood Arrival (DACA), passed during the Obama administration, that gave me safety, protection, and access to basic rights like having a social security number and work authorization, a driver's license, and protection from deportation.
This, however, does not mean that I have access to a pathway to citizenship. Nor does this mean that DACA is a permanent program. I first got DACA back in 2014. I waited 2 years after it passed to apply because of the many fears that haunt me today - that the government will have all of my personal information. I recently renewed DACA, not expecting that it will probably be taken away next year.
There are many reasons why adjusting my undocumented status is urgent for me and many in my position. But my need to apply is made all the more urgent today because:
1) USCIS will be raising their filing fees on December 23.
2) Under the current xenophobic, racist, sexist, and etc. administration there is going to be a direct attack on undocumented folk like myself by most likely removing DACA (which I currently benefit from).
3) As a result of being able to acquire a full-time job under DACA, I have full benefits, which is important for my healthcare as a Thymoma stage 4 cancer survivor.
I am asking you to help me avoid returning to a life of fear. I am asking you to help me keep the current stability in my life, which is something I have never had the luxury of before. I do not want to live in fear. I want to work and thrive so I can continue fighting for undocumented folk like myself. I am also asking you to help me keep my family together. I currently live with my partner, Christina Garcia, who I have been with for 7 years, and married to for 4 years (Our commitment ceremony was in 2012 and we were legally married in 2014). Not to mention, we have two amazing dog “babies,” Otis and Noah, that need their moms together.
I need this green card to continue doing the important work of supporting undocumented students. Like many youth today, I also felt helpless and depressed when I graduated high school. With no social security, I was blocked from basic survival opportunities. I went through life every day feeling like a criminal. I have had to fight many times in my life - so this current battle is not new to me. My community, during the time I was undocumented, taught me how to live in a system that negated our existence. And it is my community who continues to uplift me even when I cannot see the light. I have also met amazing mentors and friends along the way that told me I mattered and that I needed to be my biggest advocate. And I did.
For that reason, when I was diagnosed with stage 4 Thymoma cancer back in 2012, it was just another battle I had to overcome. This battle was made harder because of my status. As an undocumented adult I had no health insurance. Facing this uncertainty, I learned to ask those more privileged than me for help. It was the support of the Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) that allowed me to be treated at the Cedar Sinai Cancer Center as a charity patient. If it were not for FMF pulling their resources together I might not be here today.
Within a year of finishing my treatment I graduated from Los Angeles’ East College Community College with two associates degrees and was accepted into Mount Holyoke College (MHC) with a full-tuition scholarship. And, finally, at the age of 28, I graduated from MHC Summa Cum Laude!!!
It was because of MHC and DACA that I was able to travel to Mexico during my last year at MHC through advance parole - giving me a legal re-entry into the US. This legal re-entry has given me the privilege of applying for adjustment of status within the US, making this the key moment for me to begin the process. My goal of $2,000 would cover $1,500 for filing fees and $500 to retain the attorney. Paying these fees are urgent, as the USCIS filing fee increase date is only weeks away. This begins the process of applying for a green card through marriage. I will pay the remaining attorney fees of $1,500 through small installments over the next year.
Being undocumented has never felt more unsafe due to the current political climate. I do not want to live in fear. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story and please share with your networks so we can meet our goal in 12 days!
Dear Family, Friends, and Community Members,
As some of you know, my name is Patricia Garcia, AKA Pati. I am here to ask for your support in raising $2,000 to begin the process of adjusting my undocumented status to permanent resident status.
When I was 7, I immigrated to the United States from Guadalajara, Mexico. Like many other immigrants, my parents came to the US for economic reasons while fleeing violence from their communities. Thanks to the laws that were passed in the 1990s both of my parents were able to adjust their status to become permanent residents. However, due to lack of knowledge, support, and access to resources, my parents did not file for me. This led me to live the first 24 years of my life as an undocumented youth and later as an undocumented adult. But it was laws like the Deferred Action for Early Childhood Arrival (DACA), passed during the Obama administration, that gave me safety, protection, and access to basic rights like having a social security number and work authorization, a driver's license, and protection from deportation.
This, however, does not mean that I have access to a pathway to citizenship. Nor does this mean that DACA is a permanent program. I first got DACA back in 2014. I waited 2 years after it passed to apply because of the many fears that haunt me today - that the government will have all of my personal information. I recently renewed DACA, not expecting that it will probably be taken away next year.
There are many reasons why adjusting my undocumented status is urgent for me and many in my position. But my need to apply is made all the more urgent today because:
1) USCIS will be raising their filing fees on December 23.
2) Under the current xenophobic, racist, sexist, and etc. administration there is going to be a direct attack on undocumented folk like myself by most likely removing DACA (which I currently benefit from).
3) As a result of being able to acquire a full-time job under DACA, I have full benefits, which is important for my healthcare as a Thymoma stage 4 cancer survivor.
I am asking you to help me avoid returning to a life of fear. I am asking you to help me keep the current stability in my life, which is something I have never had the luxury of before. I do not want to live in fear. I want to work and thrive so I can continue fighting for undocumented folk like myself. I am also asking you to help me keep my family together. I currently live with my partner, Christina Garcia, who I have been with for 7 years, and married to for 4 years (Our commitment ceremony was in 2012 and we were legally married in 2014). Not to mention, we have two amazing dog “babies,” Otis and Noah, that need their moms together.
I need this green card to continue doing the important work of supporting undocumented students. Like many youth today, I also felt helpless and depressed when I graduated high school. With no social security, I was blocked from basic survival opportunities. I went through life every day feeling like a criminal. I have had to fight many times in my life - so this current battle is not new to me. My community, during the time I was undocumented, taught me how to live in a system that negated our existence. And it is my community who continues to uplift me even when I cannot see the light. I have also met amazing mentors and friends along the way that told me I mattered and that I needed to be my biggest advocate. And I did.
For that reason, when I was diagnosed with stage 4 Thymoma cancer back in 2012, it was just another battle I had to overcome. This battle was made harder because of my status. As an undocumented adult I had no health insurance. Facing this uncertainty, I learned to ask those more privileged than me for help. It was the support of the Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) that allowed me to be treated at the Cedar Sinai Cancer Center as a charity patient. If it were not for FMF pulling their resources together I might not be here today.
Within a year of finishing my treatment I graduated from Los Angeles’ East College Community College with two associates degrees and was accepted into Mount Holyoke College (MHC) with a full-tuition scholarship. And, finally, at the age of 28, I graduated from MHC Summa Cum Laude!!!
It was because of MHC and DACA that I was able to travel to Mexico during my last year at MHC through advance parole - giving me a legal re-entry into the US. This legal re-entry has given me the privilege of applying for adjustment of status within the US, making this the key moment for me to begin the process. My goal of $2,000 would cover $1,500 for filing fees and $500 to retain the attorney. Paying these fees are urgent, as the USCIS filing fee increase date is only weeks away. This begins the process of applying for a green card through marriage. I will pay the remaining attorney fees of $1,500 through small installments over the next year.
Being undocumented has never felt more unsafe due to the current political climate. I do not want to live in fear. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story and please share with your networks so we can meet our goal in 12 days!
Organizer
Patricia Garcia Renderos
Organizer
Boston, MA
