CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Titled, ‘This is DACA’ a Charlotte mother started a GoFundMe page, hoping to raise money to send 20-year-old DACA recipient, Poulleth Jimenez, to college.
“Poulleth’s dream is to become a pediatric nurse. She was recently accepted to Queens University and awarded a partial scholarship. She will lose her scholarship if she does not enroll this fall,” wrote Rachel Helton on the GoFundMe page.
Jimenez, who graduated from Myers Park High near the top of her class, has been saving, too. The young dreamer is currently working five part-time jobs, including working as a part-time nanny for the Helton family in South Park.
“She’s a part of our family. I love her, I trust her, she’s got car seats in her car,” said Helton, a speech pathologist who hired Jimenez to look after her two boys when her youngest, now two-years-old, was a baby.
“Due to her DACA status, Poulleth is ineligible for federal student loans and federal scholarships. In North Carolina, dreamers do not qualify for in-state tuition, which would make higher education more affordable. Once Poulleth is enrolled at Queens University in their nursing program, she will be a strong contender for DACA-specific scholarships such as the Golden Door Scholars,” wrote Helton.
In seven short days, the page has raised nearly $10,000, but Helton said more is needed to get Jimenez through her first year of college.
“You didn’t think of going to college, you just got the opportunity to go. And for Poulleth, this is just a dream of hers. I hope that we can get enough money to just get her foot in the door,” saidHelton.
Jimenez’s life started in Jalisco, Mexico, where she said her parents had successful careers and where she attended private school, excelling in math and science. But when her brother was nearly kidnapped and held for ransom, her family fled to Charlotte. Jimenez was just seven-years-old.
“It was for our safety. It was better for us to move here,” she said.
In 2012 Jimenez was awarded a permit through DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program. Now, not only is she dreaming of attending college and becoming a nurse, but the young dreamer is hoping home will always be in America.
“Basically, we’d lose everything we worked for,” said Jimenez.
The Helton family says they, too, would be devastated.
“I’ll feel our country failed us. We’re a country built on immigrants, and I feel like it’s really important to support these people that are in our country now,” said Helton.
As it stands now, the future is uncertain for Jimenez and the roughly 800,000 thousand children who were brought to the U.S. at an early age. Congress was given until March 5 to make a decision on the program’s future after President Trump announced he would be ending DACA last September. But Congress has yet to act.
In the meantime, two federal judges have issued injunctions, which could block president Trump’s plan to phase out the program all-together.