Motus Monologues: UndocuAmerica Series

Alejandro Fuentes-Mena’s tells the story of his hard working parents and shares his journey to becoming one of the first two DACAmented teachers in the country.Alejandro Fuentes Mena was born in Valparaiso, Chile and grew up in San Diego, California after the age of four. He received a B.A. in Psychology from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. Through Teach For America, Alejandro was one of the first two DACAmented teachers in the nation and is now in his fifth year of teaching in Colorado. He tells a story of his hard working parents and celebrates the assets he and his family are to our country.

Reydesel, a legally deaf undocumented college graduate, shares how he went from suicidal to success after the DACA program was created that gave temporary legal status to undocumented people brought to the U.S. as children.

Kiara tells a tender story of flying home to Mexico for the first time since she was four to see her ailing grandmother.*(*She was able to do this as part of the “Advanced Parole” program that once allowed youth with DACA status to leave the country for work, education, or humanitarian reasons. These visits are no longer allowed because Advanced Parole program was terminated in 2017.)

Cristian Solano-Córdova tells the story of strategizing to protect his eight-year-old sister, who is an American citizen, in the event her mother gets deported. Cristian is the Communications Manager with the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition. He is a former student body president of Metropolitan State University, and advocated for undocumented students at the Auraria Campus, and for immigrants at the Mental Health Center of Denver.