Felipe Baeza, 24, is an undocumented Mexican young man who left his country with his parents when he was 7 year-old. When they first came to the United States they lived in a crowed basement in Chicago. Felipe Baeza’s dream was to become an artist. He was overjoyed to receive a full tuition scholarship for his art school because he knew that his parents did not have money to send him to college.
Mr. Felipe worked in an East Village restaurant. The restaurant was a stepping stone into his dream art career before he graduated with a degree in art from The Cooper Union. He found a job, but when the employer asked him about his legal status, he was reluctant to tell them he was undocumented. He was frustrated and didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t be the person he wanted to be. He noticed that he had very limited opportunities in the United States. He couldn’t work in any art work, not even to assist an artist. He also was arrested once in Georgia because he was undocumented but later he was released. Many years of study and his art dream became empty and he had to abundant his career. He joined a group of people who are also undocumented to find ways to survive in the United States.
This article is related to the movie “Maid in America” and presents many people who came here to pursue their American dreams, but couldn’t get what they really wanted. These people do not have equal opportunities because they don’t have a legal status.
