Private Story
Angelo's Journey
When Angelo was given that $280 dollars, which opened the door to college for him, he was asked to return the favor by helping other students in the same situation to get into college. Today, Angelo works full time, without a salary, managing educational programs within the Mexican community that support young Mexicans and Latinos who wish to go to college. For his selfless work and devotion to improving the lives of immigrants newly arrived in New York City, Angelo Cabrera has received various awards from local, state, and Mexican government institutions.
Recently, Angelo was awarded by the Rising Star Award from the American Dreamer’s Award from the Mayor of New York.
He has also received several Fellowships to implement programs in the Mexican community such Harvard University, CORO New York through Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, and a winner of an international competition for social change projects from Initiativa Mexico (Mexican Initiatives) to support Mexican living abroad with his Mentoring Educational program in the South Bronx. MASA.ORG (Angelo is the founder of Masa since 2001.)
When he left his family in Texcala (Puebla) 23 years ago, he promised his mother that one day he would come back with a Master’s degree. “People criticize me for not returning to visit my parents, but they knew that if I would have retuned, the dream would be over”. On February of 2014 Angelo was able to deliver that promise: he returned to Mexico and to his beloved family who had never lost hope of seeing him again. They had always supported his dream and never stopped believing in him.
During the years he was away, his mother had lost her vision due to an illness. So, while she cannot see her son’s face, she is overjoyed at being able to hug him again! “When he left, he was still a child. Now he is a man.” Due to his community work and knowledge working with the immigrant Mexican community, He was offered a fulltime job position as a Community and Special Service Specialist at the Research Foundation of the City University of New York (CUNY), with functional title job as Program Assistance at the School of Public Affairs, Baruch College. On September 19, 2013 her petition H1b-visa was approved by the State Department, Homeland Security, but due to his immigration status, He needed to travel outside of the United States to obtain his visa and apply for an immigration waiver to be able to return to the United States to star his new job.
However, after waiting for six months and having the fully support of a USA Congressman Joseph Crowley (NY-14) and many other local politicians from both member of the City Council and members of the New York State Assembly, on August 19 of 2014, He was notified that his immigration waiver was denied it by a Judge at the Admissibility Review Office. Angelo’s dream was to return to New York, with his papers and continuo working for the community.
After 23 years in the USA, Angelo fells like a foreigner in Mexico. He is now desperate trying to change things in the small village where his family lives, near Puebla, with no resources, no support and no hope. San Antonio Texcala is located in the municipality of Zapotitlán (in the state of Puebla). It has 1,076 residents. Ten years ago, the population was double that number. The people are dedicated to handicrafts made with rock salt, marble, and onyx. Most have their own workshop where they make figurines, tables, lamps…
Over the past 10 years, sales have dropped considerably, and much of the population has been forced to emigrate to the United States due to the economic uncertainty. Families who remain in the village receive financial support from those in the US.
For many undocumented immigrants today will be a celebration after hearing Obama's immigration executive order, but this measures had came to late for nearly 4.6 deported immigrants since 1996, and about 3.7 of those deported immigrants since the creation of the Department of Homeland Security in 2003.
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