'Forrest Gump' has been one of my favorite movies of all time.
When I go to places, I love going to all those kind of amusement parks and kind of cheesy things to do.
I was lucky enough to be with my parents until I was 14. Having my parents tell me that I could do anything. I was special. I matter.
I don't know why I was lucky enough to have people in my community take me in. To be able to continue school. Or why I was lucky enough to find work or go to college. I do know that kind of luck is one in a million.
Once my family was taken, I became fully aware that my community matters less to some people. That we are treated differently because of the color of our skin or where our parents were born.
I feel like there's this misconception that immigrants come here and just don't care about the system and paying taxes, and that's not true.
My father was desperately trying to be a legal contributor to this society.
My father, who worked as a dishwasher, was especially anxious. He did not like being here undocumented.
I definitely binge-watched 'House of Cards' when it first came out.
I think despite what we've seen on TV, people like seeing women and knowing about women's stories and their struggles and their truth. I think we've seen it in a lot of these shows - when there's a cast of all women, it does very well.
People like seeing people being human and real, and I think that's been lacking on TV.
For me, picking a college was really difficult. I wish I had had my parents there kind of supervising me. But I chose well. I did OK.
Neighbors broke the news that my parents had been taken away by immigration officers, and just like that, my stable family life was over.
Every day, children who are U.S. citizens are separated from their families as a result of immigration policies that need fixing.
I went through depression, which is something that we don't often talk about when we look at undocumented communities and deported families.
I want immigration reform to come into fruition, and I want it to be comprehensive, and I want it to have a path to citizenship, and I want to be involved politically every day.
I so desperately wanted to be honest, and I so desperately wanted to love myself and accept myself for who I was.
I don't think you're ever ready to read your life back to yourself and try to make it entertaining for others.
Even kids who haven't had firsthand experience with the immigration system, I want them to know how families are affected and what kind of system is in place.
I want to present the immigrant community in more of a real light.
