Page Created By Jonathan Wang
Page Created By Jonathan Wang
History
United We Dream (UWD) emerged as a grassroots response organization, prioritizing and responding to the discriminatory exclusion that undocumented youth were facing in already existing immigration advocacy spaces. In 2007, undocumented youth gathered together to express their experience with systematic discrimination and marginalization, even when there were supposedly large immigration reform movements occurring. They spoke at a national conference and were silenced and censored, being placed in a “coat room,” which catalyzed the start of the organization. Rather than waiting for what could never be for the representation of undocumented youth, in 2008, the organization was created and operated under a fiscal sponsorship with the National Immigration Law Center. The monumental individuals who kickstarted UWD were Cristina Jimenez, Julieta Garibay, and Carlos Saavedra, all undocumented youth.
Cristina Jimenez
Julieta Garibay
Carlos Saavedra
Why was it created: United We Dream (UWD) was created to challenge injustices undocumented youth faced in daily life that were not touched upon by the larger immigration movements occurring, such as the threat of deportation, lack of a proper citizenship pathway, systematic marginalization towards their education, and social discrimination.
Mission: The UWD’s mission is to fight for the rights and representation of undocumented youth and empower their local communities.
Who they help: The UWD is one of the largest not-for-profit immigration organizations in the United States, with 1 million+ members, 100+ local groups, and a reach of over 5 million people every month. The members they primarily support are undocumented youth, commonly referred to as Dreamers, DACA recipients, immigrant families and mixed-status households, and other allies and advocates of their cause. The UWD’s reach is huge, operating in over 28 states in the country.
The UWD combats hate through a multitude of ways. Most notably, the UWD advocates for reforms to policies and laws by pushing for policies like DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), which protect undocumented youth from being deported and removed, providing them with education opportunities and a pathway to permanent status. The UWD is currently pushing for a pathway for DACA recipients and continuous reform to policies that provide for these individuals. The UWD also has deportation defense and legal access for individuals affected by immigration policies, helping to fund legal representation for those who don’t have the resources to defend themselves in court, and providing legal counseling to those without it.
The National Immigration Law Center was UWD’s early fiscal sponsor and still is an ongoing partner. UWD is also in collaboration with the American Civil Liberties Union to provide legal funding for immigrants and the Abundant Futures Fund for immigrant legal support.
A key issue that UWD advocates for is a lack of permanent citizenship and residency pathways for DACA recipients and the undocumented youth. The DACA program provides temporary protection and relief, preventing deportation and detention of Dreamers and allowing them to work legally in the United States; it does not grant any pathway to citizenship or legal status. A result is that hundreds of thousands of individuals in the DACA program are on a timer and constantly live in uncertainty as to whether they will lose their temporary protection and lose their home. This is a huge problem that remains in the United States, even with such a pivotal change for immigrant civil rights, such as DACA. Many DACA recipients are brought when they are children, are given temporary relief, and are allowed to go to school, work, and pay taxes. Never once might they even know of their temporary status until it is too late and until their temporary relief runs out. There needs to be a pathway to citizenship that is clear to these individuals who are every bit American as the rest of America.
Statistics:
Over 530,000+ individuals rely on DACA for legal protection
Each year, 98,000 undocumented students graduate from U.S high schools
500,000+ undocumented students are enrolled in higher education
Over 500,000+ families have at least one family member who is a DACA recipient
81% of DACA recipients fear losing their temporary legal protection and access to healthcare if the program ends
There are an estimated 3.6 million undocumented youth living in the United States, with only a small portion being protected by DACA
How Many DACA Recipients in the U.S?
Initiative: UWD is currently leading a DACA support and advocacy campaign in its ongoing support by providing resources and support to DACA recipients. The initiative is providing resources to individuals and also advocating and pressuring the government for policy changes and legal reform. UWD also provides legal help, information, resources, and support for renewal and pathways to citizenship for DACA recipients. The organization also pushes legislation such as the Dream and Promise Act, which would provide a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients and Dreamers.
The Dream and Promise Act would provide a pathway to citizenship for over 5 million people worldwide because DACA itself already provides support for over 800,000 individuals, added on the undocumented youth who are not DACA recipients. It would transform and change the lives of millions of undocumented immigrant families in the United States.
Combatting Hate through Writing
The Mandarin Tree
Intentions: In Chinese culture, mandarins symbolize fortune, good luck, and most importantly, prosperity. I wanted to create a poem that highlighted how systematic bias and stereotypes can occur and pay homage to my Chinese culture, a historically marginalized group in history that has been discriminated against and mistreated because of the color of their skin. I wanted to show how these stereotypes can be harmful, cutting out resources and opportunities for individuals who have the same potential and talent, but are undermined because of the color of their skin. We all grow from the same tree: we are all on the same planet and are the same inside. Throughout my life, I too have been subjected to stereotypes because of the color of my skin, whether it be seen as not worthy or unable to do something that a person with a different color of skin is seen to be able to do. My poem, The Mandarin Tree, was written to highlight how harmful these stereotypes are and how the color of your skin truly doesn't matter when determining your passion, your talent, your love, and your "sweetness."
The Mandarin Tree
#USvsHate
The mandarin tree is planted from a singular, unique seed, nourished with water and sunlight.
Ethereal marble flowers bloom from the tree; endless opportunities await the young buds.
The buds bear fruit, all identical, all ambitious and driven to become nourishing fruit.
Sunlight showers the young mandarins, giving them the resources needed to grow.
Mandarins with irregular shapes, spotty skin, and a different shade than the rest are cut out.
They are cut off from the rest of the branch’s resources, purged because of their appearance,
Cast away and not allowed to mature like their peers.
One mandarin escapes the pruning.
The other mandarins watch with their smooth skin, round spheres, and bright orange,
Like the burning sun in the sky, they observe the outcast intently.
The harvest is soon, and the mandarin will eventually be thrown out, labeled as a “bad one.”
The mandarin wonders why his brothers and sisters were pruned.
Just like the rest of the mandarins, they grew up on the same tree.
The rest continue to be fed with sunlight and water, nurtured and allowed to grow.
They are cut out, stopped from growing, because of the shade of their bronze skin.
Harvest continues to get closer.
Harvest day is here.
Today, the mandarins will be picked and assessed, their shade graded on a scale of worth.
The mandarin will be thrown out if it is too dark, too light, too uneven.
Too different.
The hands encased in rough calluses, dirt, and dust assess each one of them.
The hands, slithering like a snake, dance around the fruits, waiting to find one to toss out.
It finds the mandarin, with its dark skin and abnormal shape.
The hand grasps, ready to toss it out, and label it as an anomaly among the rest. It stops
Another hand reaches for the mandarin. A youth with skin as soft as an angel.
With care, the mandarin is taken off the tree.
It gazes into the eyes of a child, one with eyes of love, happiness, untouched by the world.
The child smiles as they try the mandarin. Sweet nectar, a slight tang, a gentle firmness.
The next season, the tree bears ethereal marble flowers, young buds, with endless opportunity.
Each bud is allowed to blossom, no matter its appearance and exterior.
No mandarin is cut. Each mandarin is given equal worth, equal resources, and equal love.
For every mandarin, no matter its shade, was grown from the same seed.
Work Cited
United We Dream. Our Story. United We Dream,
https://unitedwedream.org/who-we-are/our-story/. Accessed 25 Apr. 2026.
American Civil Liberties Union. ACLU Awards 2013 Medal of Liberty to Youth-Led Organization United We Dream. American Civil Liberties Union, 2013,
https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-awards-2013-medal-liberty-youth-led-organization-united-we-dream. Accessed 25 Apr. 2026.
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. Active DACA Recipients by Fiscal Year. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2025,
https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/data/active_daca_recipients_fy2025_q4_v1.xlsx. Accessed 25 Apr. 2026.