1. Tomás Monzón arrived in the US as a child of undocumented immigrants. Due to his immigration status, he faced barriers to attending university such as difficulties obtaining financial aid and documents. He overcame these challenges by auditing classes while riding his bicycle for over an hour each way to attend. 2. Walter Velásquez arrived from Honduras at age six with his mother. He did not understand his undocumented status until middle school. He enrolled in school and gifted programs, which helped him succeed academically despite facing limitations due to his status. 3. Mayra Rubio discovered her undocumented status in driver's ed class at age 16 when she could not get a license. This

1. Miami Montage stories on immigration
1. Read this extract from the story “Riding to a better life” about Tomás Monzón's experience as
an immigrant in the US.
Did you know?
In the US, undocumented immigrants usually face uncertainities and limitations within the US
educational and social system. It is very difficult for many of them to study at university, access
financial aid for students or get their driver's license.
Only a few weeks after [high school] graduation, while watching a report on CNN, Tomás Monzón
first heard about President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Also known as DACA,
it grants a two-year visa to children brought to the United States by their parents as minors […] but
it would still take four to five months for Monzón to get his student visa and all of his documents,
making it impossible for him to apply to college for the fall1 semester.
Rather than wait a year to enroll2, Monzón decided to audit classes, which involves sitting in classes
and doing all of the work without credit3.
Because Monzón did not have documents, he also could not own a car or have a driver’s license, so
he rode his 26-year-old bicycle five and a half miles from his Glenvar Heights home to the FIU
(Florida International University) south campus for every class.
“I got it (the bike) at a flea market in Hialeah,” Monzón said. “The rims were not perfectly round
and there was a considerable amount of rust on the tires, but everything else worked well. I spent
some money upgrading it by swapping out the tires, saddle, stem shifters and handlebars.”
It took him about 35 minutes each way and on the nights when he had late classes, he would get
home around midnight.
“I had my bicycle equipped with lights, and I had been cycling already for several years,” he said.
“He is always trying. He has a passion.” Guaitima [his mum] said. “I felt terrible. My son really
wanted to learn.”
Glossary
1 American equivalent for “autumn” in British English
2 Register, sign up.
3 Amount of points earned for academic work.
2. Discuss these questions in small groups.
• How was he/she treated after upon arrival to the US? How did his/her ideas about the US
change after arriving there?
• What barriers did this person overcome?
• What role did education play in his or her life? Did this person's education change his or her
socioeconomic status or class? How did this person's ethnicity affect this person's ambition?
• Have you or someone you know been affected by this situation (or a similar one)? If so,
how?

2. Miami Montage stories on immigration
1. Read this extract from the story “When the truth comes out” about Mayra Rubio's experience
as an immigrant in the US.
Did you know?
In the US, undocumented immigrants usually face uncertainities and limitations within the US
educational and social system. It is very difficult for many of them to study at university, access
financial aid for students or get their driver's license.
Wedged between a small office desk and an oil painting of two dismal-looking farm workers, two
stuffed boxes overflow with the files of nearly 200 undocumented immigrants hoping to extend
their stays.
One of those files contains the challenges facing Mayra Rubio.
When she was 16, Rubio never expected her name to be in that box. She never expected to be
arrested outside U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor’s office in D.C. advocating for immigration reform. She
never expected to shake the president’s hand later as a guest at the State of the Union Address.
Sitting in a South Dade High School driver’s education class eight years ago with the rest of her
friends, all she expected to get was a driver’s license. Then her teacher pulled her aside1 to explain
that she would not be getting her driver’s license because she did not have a Social Security
number.
Even when her mother told her that night that Rubio was one of more than 11 million immigrants
who entered the U.S. without documentation, Rubio’s first thought was still her license. Anger came
later, and then fear.
“My first thought was, ‘oh man, I’m not going to be able to drive.’ Because that’s the main thing
when you’re 16,” she said. “And then I started thinking about jobs.”
Rubio’s situation feels all too familiar to students across the nation who have discovered their
undocumented status by bedsides, in front of computer screens, seated across from guidance
counselors2, or in line at the Division of Motor Vehicles.
Glossary
1 Move somebody in a particular direction, outside the focus of attention.
2 A person working in high schools who gives students advice about school, university, etc.
2. Discuss these questions in small groups.
• How was he/she treated after upon arrival to the US? How did his/her ideas about the US
change after arriving there?
• What barriers did this person overcome?
• What role did education play in his or her life? Did this person's education change his or her
socioeconomic status or class? How did this person's ethnicity affect this person's ambition?
• Have you or someone you know been affected by this situation (or a similar one)? If so,
how?

3. Miami Montage stories on immigration
1. Read this extract from the story “Mixing up in the hallways1” about Walter Velásquez's
experience as an immigrant in the US.
Did you know?
In the US, undocumented immigrants usually face uncertainities and limitations within the US
educational and social system. It is very difficult for many of them to study at university, access
financial aid for students or get their driver's license.
A scared six-year-old dressed in dull2 clothing to avoid attention, Walter Velásquez clutched his
mother’s hand as they boarded a bus in San Pedro Sula to cross the Honduran border in hopes of
joining his father in Miami. They bused across Guatemala, walked across the Mexican boarder and
entered Texas where they boarded their last bus from Houston to Miami.
“I thought of it as a moving thing. I thought we were going to meet up with my dad, and that’s
about it,” Velásquez said. “I didn’t realize the whole ‘immigration’ and ‘illegal’ part until probably
around the seventh grade.”
When Velásquez, who had learned English in Honduras, arrived in Florida, he immediately enrolled
in elementary school near his home in Homestead. There, he officially became one of thousands of
[...] students brought to the country illegally at an early age and quietly hidden in the seams of
school society.
Seven years later, Velásquez finally mustered the confidence to “come out”3 as undocumented to his
peers. Velásquez said his peers4 made jokes about him occasionally about not being able to travel
internationally, but he never considered it bullying.
Velásquez knew he had to keep his head held high and focus on the reason his parents brought him
to the United States: for a better life. “They put me in gifted programs5, and those classes really
geared me to take even harder classes,” Velásquez said. “They sent me to do all the high-level
programs they had.” […] “There’s no visual difference between legal and illegal status,” Velásquez
said. “As long as you can speak English, no one can really tell.”
Glossary
1 Corridors. In schools, indoor area immediately outside classrooms.
2 Discreet, uninteresting.
3 Say something openly. It's a figurative use of the language, as in “come out of the closet”
(meaning reveal one's homosexuality).
4 Mate. A person belonging to the same age group or social group.
5 School programs for students who have great skills and perform very well in school subjects.
2. Discuss these questions in small groups.
• How was he/she treated after upon arrival to the US? How did his/her ideas about the US
change after arriving there?
• What barriers did this person overcome?
• What role did education play in his or her life? Did this person's education change his or her
socioeconomic status or class? How did this person's ethnicity affect this person's ambition?
• Have you or someone you know been affected by this situation (or a similar one)? If so,
how?