Undocumented and Unafraid: The Making of An Activist

Santa Monica College student and activist, Salma Aguilar Morales, an undocumented immigrant and DACA recipient in the Santa Monica College cafeteria in Santa Monica, Calif. on September 8, 2017. "I was never ashamed or scared of it [being undocumented]," she says, admitting that she tried not to think a lot about it growing up. Aguilar Morales was in middle school when she learned she was an undocumented immigrant. "I wondered why I didn't have a social security number and why I couldn't visit my family in Mexico like my cousins did," she says. (Photo: Helena Sung)

A hat for sale at a yard sale held by Santa Monica College student and DACA recipient and activist Salma Morales Aguilar in Los Angeles, Calif. on Saturday, October 21, 2017. Aguilar Morales held the yard sale to raise money to send to residents of Ixtaltepec (cf) , in Oaxaca, Mexico, which suffered an 8.2 earthquake on September 7, 2017. (Photo by Helena Sung).

Santa Monica College student and DACA recipient and activist Salma Morales Aguilar pictured with her mother, Brigida Morales Aguilar, in Los Angeles, Calif. on Saturday, October 21, 2017. They are pictured sitting on the steps of one of the first homes they lived in when they first came to Los Angeles from Mexico. "We moved around a lot when I was little," says Salma Aguilar Morales. (Photo by Helena Sung).

"I am a DACA recipient," Santa Monica College student, Salma Morales Aguilar, 19, announces at a rally in front of Santa Monica City Hall in Santa Monica, Calif., on Thursday, September 7, 2017. Students from Santa Monica College held a rally and march to protest President Donald Trump's decision to end the DACA program, announced on September 5, 2017. (Photo: Helena Sung)

Santa Monica College student and activist, Salma Aguilar Morales, 19, receives a hug from Oscar de la Torre, Executive Director of the Pico Youth & Family Center and member of the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District, after speaking at a rally at Santa Monica City Hall in Santa Monica, Calif. on September 7, 2017. A DACA recipient, Aguilar Morales was 10 months old when her parents brought her to California from Oaxaca, Mexico. "It's really about politics, and that's what we need to learn," says Aguilar Morales of the undocumented immigrant community. (Photo: Helena Sung)

Santa Monica College student, Salma Aguilar Morales (center), stands in a classroom at Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, Calif. on Friday, September 8, 2017. Aguilar Morales and other Santa Monica College students were finishing a meeting to plan festivities for an upcoming Day of the Dead celebration to be held on campus in early November when student Maria Padilla-Badillo (left), a student activist, informed the group that one of their fellow student activists has been receiving death threats from white supremacists on Facebook for speaking out about being undocumented and for protesting President Donald Trump's decision to end the DACA program. "Be careful and set your social media accounts to private," urged Padilla-Badillo. (Photo: Helena Sung)

Santa Monica College student and DACA recipient, Salma Aguilar Morales (center), poses for a photograph with fellow student activists, Karina Maximo (left) and Estephanie Guardado (right) in Santa Monica, Calif. on September 11, 2017. Guardado is President of the Homegirl & Homeboy Scholars of Santa Monica College, and Aguilar Morales and Maximo are Vice Presidents. The club helps formerly incarcerated and first generation students to succeed personally and academically. (Photo: Helena Sung)

Santa Monica College student and DACA recipient, Salma Aguilar Morales, 19, speaks at a meeting of the Homegirl & Homeboy Scholars of Santa Monica College at Santa Monica College on September 21, 2017. Aguilar Morales is a Vice President of the club, which seeks to help formerly incarcerated and first generation students to succeed personally and academically. (Photo: Helena Sung)

Santa Monica College student, Salma Morales Aguilar, 19, was ten months old when her parents brought her and her older sister to Los Angeles from their home in a tiny town in Oaxaca, Mexico. Initially, her parents planned to only stay for two years to make enough money to pay off medical debts they had incurred in Mexico when Salma had been gravely ill as a baby. They planned to return to Mexico, but ended up staying, first living with one of Salma’s uncles, then later getting their own apartment.

Growing up in LA, Salma wondered why she did not have a social security number and could not go to Mexico to visit her extended family, as her cousins did. It was during middle school that Salma learned she is an undocumented immigrant.

“I was never ashamed or scared of [being undocumented],” Salma said. “I tried not to think about it a lot.”

However, Salma’s mother, who works as a housecleaner, did think about it. “I worried about my girls a lot,” Brigida Morales Aguilar said in Spanish as Salma interpreted. “I wanted to know they had a future after high school.”

In June 2012, when then-President Barack Obama created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program – shielding young undocumented immigrants who meet certain requirements from deportation, and making them eligible for driver’s licenses and work permits – Salma’s mother heard about the program and found a lawyer to help Salma apply and obtain DACA status.

When President Donald Trump announced on September 5, 2017, that he was ending the DACA program, Salma admits she was devastated. Two days later, Salma and other members of Homegirl & Homeboy Scholars of Santa Monica College, along with tudent Empowering Movement Introducing the Language of Liberation in Academia (SEMILLA) organized a rally in front of the library on the Santa Monica College campus and marched to Santa Monica City Hall to protest the end of DACA, as well as other issues impacting minority students, faculty, and the community.

Salma found her passion for advocacy during an internship at the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA). “I discovered who I was and I learned about the politics of being undocumented,” she said. But it was a class she took with Professor Rebecca Romo called Latinos and Latinos in Contemporary Society that was really eye-opening and caused her to change her major from kinesiology to sociology. “It changed my whole view of my life and where I stand,” Salma said of the class. “It made me think about my ancestors and those who came before me.”

Now, Salma’s goal is to start a non-profit. “It’s my duty to fight for my people and my community,” Salma said. “Not just my people, but all people who are immigrants and affected. I really feel that that’s what I need to do.” As for what will happen to the DACA program, Salma is hopeful. “We’re going to make it through,” she said. “We fought together to get DACA and we’ll keep fighting.”