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Editor's note: Jaime's name was changed in the following article to protect his identity.

"[Initially] school was normal. You know how they sell you the American Dream of becoming whatever you want to be. It wasn't until the sixth grade when my older brother graduated high school and one of my friend's brother graduated with him [that I noticed] something was off. His brother went onto college and mine didn't. He had the grades for it, he was on the track team; he could've had scholarships but he couldn't go to college [due to his status]. In eighth grade they began teaching us about immigration and green cards; none of the other kids could answer those questions but I could. That along with my brother not being able to attend college it just dawned on me ‘Oh, I'm not like them.' It's weird because I grew up in a Latino neighborhood in Brooklyn, where most of them were Puerto Ricans but to Puerto Ricans [citizenship] is not an issue. So me seeing them as Latinos and not having to deal with the immigration issue you ask yourself why is that? Then I pretty much started [slacking] in school. I felt like what's the point? I wasn't able to get the ‘American Dream' because I'm not American. I had to live the ‘un-American Dream,' which is you break your back for nothing.

By the time I got to high school I didn't care anymore. I didn't do great because I wasn't focused. I wound going to one of the worst high schools in Brooklyn--John Jay H.S., which was shut down a year after I graduated. I got out of my funk around junior year. I was part of a program called Liberty, sponsored by Good Shepherd. They would find me odd jobs like helping people paint their houses, etc. I did get a little depressed when it came time to fill out college applications. I would sit there, stare at it and just throw my pencil down. I thought to myself what's the point? I can't get in.

Today I do feel American because looking at it now America was made by immigrants. We provide a lot here. Whatever the media presents of us coming here and creating gangs and committing crimes is far from the truth. I know enough immigrants that come here and bust their butts to provide for their family and send money back to their countries. I've seen eight immigrants in a one-bedroom apartment. But in a few years I see those same people with houses. We dig ourselves out of that hole. I see us as the future."

Jaime Rodriguez, 23, is presently a resident of the U.S. and works at a high profile jewelry store in New York City.

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