Arlette Pichardo and Carlos Flores on their newfound options

Arlette Pichardo arrived in the US when she was 4 years old. She and her parents are from Mexicali, with borders Calexico in California. She says as a child she didn’t understand that she was undocumented because she and her family often crossed the border.

Carlos Flores arrived in the US before he turned one. His family returned to Sinaloa, Mexico when he was in grade school and then moved back to the US illegally again, a few years later. It’s taken Flores 6 years to complete his BA in Sociology.