UCLA
The 50 undergraduates, graduates and migrant justice activists in this year’s UCLA Community Scholars Program course, “Cross-Border Solidarity for Transborder Migrant Justice,” login from multiple countries.
Growing up outside San Diego, California, about 20 miles from Mexico, Sebastian Aguilar’s parents always got nervous when they went shopping near the border and U.S. Border Patrol vehicles drove by. This was what life was like with parents who were undocumented.
For much of his childhood, Aguilar experienced daily life through what seemed like inconveniences, like driving to Los Angeles to visit family at 4 a.m. to avoid checkpoints. At 17, though, he finally comprehended the magnitude of the constant threat of deportation when he went to his mom’s permanent residency hearing. Green border patrol vehicles were parked right outside the open doors to the courtroom, ready to immediately deport anyone who was denied status.