Walking With A Purpose: Pictured from left to right are Juan Rodriguez (now Isabel Sousa), Carlos Roa, Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet, and Maria Gabriela \u201cGaby\u201d Pacheco during one of the group\u2019s 42 stops during the 1,500-mile Trail of Dreams march. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE TRAIL OF DREAMS WEBSITE<\/p>\n
When 18-year-old Juan Gomez and his family were detained in their Miami home by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2007, their story<\/a> made national headlines<\/a>.<\/p>\n Gomez and his brother were spared from deportation. His parents were not.<\/p>\n Brought to the United States from Colombia when he was 2, Gomez was a Dreamer, an undocumented immigrant who arrived in the country as a minor. College was out of reach for him\u2014except Miami Dade College.<\/p>\n Click to resize<\/p>\n Gomez\u2019s story resonated deeply with other undocumented students who felt their future was defined by their legal status.<\/p>\n Among them were MDC students Maria Gabriela \u201cGaby\u201d Pacheco, Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet, Juan Rodriguez (now Isabel Sousa) and Carlos Roa, who also desired change.<\/p>\n On Jan. 1, 2010, they ventured on a 1,500-mile walk from the historic Freedom Tower in downtown Miami to the White House in Washington, D.C. They demanded immigration reform.<\/p>\n Dubbed \u201cThe Trail of Dreams,\u201d the movement sought to end the separation of families and the deportation of undocumented students like themselves.<\/p>\n The young activists walked 15 to 18 miles per day, six days a week, enduring heat, rain and snow. Throughout 42 stops across the southeastern parts of the country, they received support from churches and community coalitions and encountered Ku Klux Klan members.<\/p>\n A map of the route the students walked from Miami\u2019s Freedom Tower to the White House in the name of immigration reform. Courtesy of Trail of Dreams <\/p>\n When they reached their final destination in D.C. on May 1, they met with Valerie Jarrett, the senior adviser to then-President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n Two years later, Obama ratified DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, granting temporary protection and work permits to undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children before 2012. The measure did not provide a pathway to permanent lawful status.<\/p>\n Today, more than 260 Dreamers face detention and over 86 have been deported to countries under the Trump Administration, according to a report by the American Immigration Council<\/a> in June. Florida has barred Dreamers from enrolling in the state\u2019s public colleges and universities<\/a><\/p>\n Nearly two decades after the Dreamers\u2019 efforts to change immigration policy, where are they today and did their vision come to fruition?<\/p>\n Maria Gabriela \u201cGaby\u201d Pacheco Handout <\/p>\n Pacheco arrived from Ecuador in 1993 with her parents and three siblings when she was 8. Fearing the rising street crime and violence in their country, the family overstayed their tourist visa and started the process of obtaining a green card.<\/p>\n A visit to the University of Miami when she was in the fifth grade left her awestruck and made Pacheco realize she wanted to go to college.<\/p>\n But when one of her older sisters came home sobbing because she was unable to pursue her dream of studying to become a nurse, she was heartbroken.<\/p>\n From that day on, Pacheco made it her goal in high school to excel in every aspect.<\/p>\n She poured her soul into her studies, took advanced placement classes and participated in orchestra, track and field and basketball.<\/p>\n While her friends at Felix Varela Senior High School went to Ivy League universities, Pacheco\u2019s only choice was to stay at MDC.<\/p>\n As Kendall Campus student government president in the 2004-2005 school year, Pacheco founded Students Working for Equal Rights, a student organization that advocated for immigrant rights. There she met Felipe, Isabel and Carlos.<\/p>\n Six years later, they teamed up for the Trail of Dreams. When they completed the mission, Pacheco stayed in D.C. to continue advocating for immigrant rights.<\/p>\n \u201cMy situation was the situation of millions of people in the country, and this is not about me. This is about my sisters. This is about my friends, millions of dreamers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n In 2013, Pacheco became the first undocumented Latina to testify before Congress, addressing the Senate Judiciary Committee about the urgent need for immigration reform.<\/p>\n That same year she joined TheDream.Us<\/a>, an organization dedicated to providing scholarships to Dreamers in the U.S., as a volunteer.<\/p>\n The program, which partners with 80 colleges including MDC across 20 states, has raised millions of dollars to help students pay for their studies.<\/p>\n Pacheco holds an associate of arts in music education, an associate in science in early childhood education and a bachelor\u2019s degree in special education.<\/p>\n She became a naturalized citizen in 2023. Today, the 41-year-old is the CEO of TheDream.Us.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s beyond heartbreaking and unfathomable that we are once again at a place where a law or a policy is telling a human being that they cannot get access to education,\u201d Pacheco said.<\/p>\n Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet Handout <\/p>\n Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet<\/a>, who is running as a democratic candidate for the Florida House of Representatives District 42 this year, found his love for advocacy at Wolfson Campus.<\/p>\n \u201cI went from being a young undocumented person who was very afraid about my immigration status with the fear of getting deported to getting very involved in the immigrant rights movement,\u201d Sousa said.<\/p>\n At 14, Sousa immigrated to Miami from an impoverished area of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. He first confronted obstacles of being undocumented when he graduated from Dr. Michael Krop Senior High School in 2005.<\/p>\n Sousa was accepted to prestigious schools like Duke University but could not afford to attend because he did not qualify for financial aid.<\/p>\n He learned about MDC through a friend in church. He applied and was accepted to the Honors College.<\/p>\n Every day, he took a two-hour bus ride from North Miami Beach to Wolfson Campus. He attended a full slate of classes and participated in Student Government Association, serving as president in the 2007-2008 school year.<\/p>\n After classes, he took a bus to Q Restaurant & Lounge in Aventura, where he worked as a busboy until about 2 a.m. to help pay the portion of his out-of-state tuition, which his scholarship did not cover.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was really difficult. But I understood I was getting the opportunity of a lifetime,\u201d said Sousa, who graduated summa cum laude from MDC in 2008 and went on to pursue a bachelor\u2019s degree in business at St. Thomas University. \u201cMiami Dade College changed my life. \u201d<\/p>\n After the Trail of Dreams, Sousa continued to advocate for immigrants and LGBTQ+ rights.<\/p>\n