*No Legal Recognition | An Undocumentary

An audio story by: Tearsa Joy Hammock

First in a series called An Undocumentary—personal stories of immigrants in the Bay Area.

Erika Cisneros, a lesbian immigrant who is out of status, seeks hope through deferred action. Her friends from high school, Aliens Serna and Hana Martucci, also discuss going through Erika’s struggles with her.

I recorded the interviews for this audio story in October of my old friend from community college. So much has happened since then, but now we can finally enjoy the fruits of my labors editing, editing, editing.

Today, Erika is still dealing with legal issues surrounding her status even though she has been granted deferred action.

Photo by: Hana Martucci

*INTERACTIVE PHOTO via ThingLink of SF Public Press’ front page | Special Report: Labor

Here is a ThingLink I made of the front page of the Spring 2013 Labor Issue of the publication I am interning at, San Francisco Public Press. This edition features a story and photos by me of a Salvadorian immigrant who was being paid less than minimum wage and who fought and won his case against the restaurant owner through an organization called Young Workers United in San Francisco, Calif.

*Good News for D.R.E.A.M.ers!!!

Good News for D.R.E.A.M.ers!!!

With the new immigration reform bill being discussed in the U.S. Senate, Prerna Lal of the Latino Voices blog with Huffington Post helps us understand the “Good, Bad and Ugly.” 

Personally, I am quite excited about what this may mean for immigrants who arrived here undocumented as minors: 

“No age cap on the DREAM Act and DACA grantees would be grandfathered into the RPI program”

Keep on dreaming! 

In case you want to dig a little deeper (ahem, 844 pages deeper!), you can read the bill in its entirety HERE.