Julissa Arce

Julissa Arce is the author of My (Underground) American Dream: My True Story as an Undocumented Immigrant Who Became a Wall Street Executive and Someone Like Me: How One Undocumented Girl Fought for Her American Dream. She is also the co-founder and chair of the Ascend Educational Fund.

Recent Articles

It's Long Past Time We Recognized Latinos Killed at the Hands of Police

In January 1918, as the people of Porvenir, Texas, slept, a group of Texas Rangers, U.S. Army cavalry soldiers and Anglo ranchers invaded the town. They abducted 15 Mexican men and boys, took them to...

By Julissa Arce

Smithsonian Museums Are Supposed to Tell the American Story. So Where's the One Dedicated to Latinos?

When I was growing up in San Antonio, Mexican culture permeated every aspect of American culture. I heard Spanish every day: at the grocery store, on the playground and, of course, at home. The staples...

By Julissa Arce

Two Years After DACA Was Rescinded, Hundreds of Thousands of Dreamers Remain in Limbo. Even the Supreme Court Can't Fix the Problem

On September 5, 2017, Jeff Sessions, then the U.S. Attorney General, announced that the Trump Administration would be rescinding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and thus ending deportation protections and legal employment...

By Julissa Arce

Trump's Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric Was Never About Legality — It Was About Our Brown Skin

I was 11 when I immigrated to San Antonio from Mexico. When I turned 14, my tourist visa expired and I became undocumented. After more than a decade without papers, I became a United States...

By Julissa Arce

Americans Aren't Allowed to Donate to and Volunteer at Migrant Detention Centers. There's No Good Reason for That Policy

Last month, Patty Rodriguez saw a picture online that broke her heart: a young boy wearing aluminum foil as shoes. He had recently been released from a detention center and was at a nonprofit shelter....

By Julissa Arce
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