The Paths We Make as We Go: the Narrative of an Undocumented Immigrant Woman in the U.S.
March 11, 2015
Maria Gabriela “Gaby” Pacheco
Program Director of TheDream.US
Immigrant rights activist Maria Gabriela Pacheco is a prominent figure in the national immigrant rights movement and is currently the Program Director of TheDream.US, a national organization that provides higher education fellowship opportunities for undocumented immigrants.
Originally from Guayaquil, Ecuador, Pacheco moved with her family to the Miami area at the age of 8. During her high school years, she began to organize politically in order to shed light on the social injustices faced by undocumented immigrants in the U.S. She has gained national recognition for her courageous advocacy of the DREAM Act, legislative reform that would provide residency status to undocumented immigrants aspiring to attend college.
As political director for the national youth group United We Dream, she spearheaded efforts in 2012 that led President Obama to announce the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), one of the biggest changes in immigration since the 1986 Amnesty. In 2013, Pacheco became the first undocumented Latina to testify before Congress regarding the passage of a comprehensive immigration reform bill, and her compelling testimony provided a critical narrative of the plight facing millions of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.
Co-sponsored by the Dresher Center for the Humanities; the Office of the Provost; the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences; the Departments of History; Africana Studies; American Studies; Modern Languages, Linguistics and Intercultural Communication; the Language, Literature and Culture Doctoral Program and the Latino/Hispanic Faculty Association