# @natgeo on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CNLIR5JD-Ht
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/11685257-natgeo-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/de92a9fcc9.jpg
- **Posted:** 2021-04-02T18:37:35.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** National Geographic (@NatGeo) — https://gondola.cc/NatGeo

## Caption

Photos by Karla Gachet kchete77 / “I am thankful for DACA*, but we deserve a program that is more inclusive and that will not determine who is the good immigrant or who is the bad immigrant, because this is our home.” - Alma

Alma, 37, came to the U.S. when she was six. She hadn’t seen her parents in two years and that helped her get through the journey north. During her senior year in high school, a counselor asked for her social security number so she could apply for college. Her mom told her she didn’t have one. The counselor then told her she wasn’t going to be able to go to college like her classmates, and she was better off working with her mom at a sweatshop. Fortunately, another college counselor came to the school and told her she had options. This hurtful experience raised her awareness, and she became an advocate for the immigrant community. She mobilized on college campuses and co-founded “Dreams to be Heard” at Cal State Northridge. She believes DACA passed because of the organized efforts of students. She's currently a community health coordinator in L.A. County.

Images: Alma (left, photo courtesy of Alma) and her sister around the time she came to the U.S.; tattoos on Alma’s arms. The monarch butterfly, which migrates in order to survive, has become a symbol for DACA recipients and immigrant rights.  The hummingbird is also a symbol of migration; Alma and her family pose for a photograph at their home in Los Angeles.

*Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) protects undocumented immigrants who were brought the United States as children from deportation.

This project was created by kchete77 and ivankphoto with the support of the natgeo Covid-19 Emergency Fund for Journalists. #DACA #dacadreamers #dacaessentialworkers #HOMEisHERE

Check out Nat Geo's link in bio for more on this story.

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## Tags

dacaessentialworkers, daca, homeishere, dacadreamers

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