Our friends at Aliento, an organization that tracks and supports Dreamers who have been living in limbo in the US for anywhere from 15 to 20 years, is sharing profiles with us on a regular basis. This month, we meet Ana Patiño and learn about how hard she’s worked to create her American Dream.
Ana Patiño and her husband are proud homeowners of two homes in Phoenix, mortgage free. “Nothing has come easy to us, but we had a dream, with a lot of hard work and sacrifices we made it happen,” said Ana.
Ana is a DREAMer. She is 37 years old and has 4 beautiful daughters.
Thanks to a presidential scholarship, Ana was able to attend Phoenix College. During that time, she became an advocate for the Dream Act when it was first introduced as a bill. “I was scared because of my status, people were not as open about it back then, but I still wanted to help. I helped to mobilize people and participated in marches, but most importantly, my goal was to educate people about the Dream Act and why it is not easy for us (DREAMers) to ‘just get our documents’. Our system is truly broken.”
Once Ana graduated in 2003, with honors, she got a minimum wage job at a Dollar Store. She was subjected to abuse and wage theft, but the only thing she could do was to keep working.
Once former president Obama issued the executive order to authorize the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Ana became a realtor, and also got a full-time job with a landscaping company.
After 20 long years, DACA gave Ana the opportunity to obtain an advance parole permit to visit her “abuelitos” back in her hometown near Guanajuato.
Ana arrived to the U.S. when she was 11 years old along with her mother and her 3 siblings. She and her family come from very humble beginnings, when sometimes the only thing they had to eat was tortillas with salt. Today is a different story, Ana and her siblings fully contribute to our communities. They also purchased a home for their parents.
Ana was recently granted a full scholarship to attend Grand Canyon University, a scholarship for DREAMers/DACA recipients. By December 2022, Ana will be graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management.
When asked how she was able to overcome so many obstacles, Ana said: “My strength comes from God and my family. Being with my family has helped me along the way. Along with my sister; we are The Patino Team, we want to help our community to work for a better future and help them become homeowners, just like us.”
Ana and many other DREAMers have been working hard to achieve the American Dream, but for 20 years, they continue living in uncertainty. It is time that DREAMers get a pathway to citizenship in the only country they know as home.
