Student Spotlight:
Dilia's Immigration Journey

I am from Columbia but immigrated to Venezuela when I was a kid. Columbia was not safe or thriving and my mom took us to a place of opportunity where we could get ahead, and we did that in Venezuela until there was a shift in government in 1999. My husband was a professor and was beaten by the government after he was quoted in a university newspaper that questioned the government. After my husband was beat, my oldest son decided it was not safe for him in Venezuela. He applied for asylum to the United States, and it was granted. The rest of us stayed in Venezuela hoping things would turn around. Finally, in 2015 my daughter and I left. My daughter told me “I can’t live here anymore; we don’t even have toilet paper!” At that time people in Venezuela still had money, but you couldn’t buy what you needed in stores. Things were starting to get worse, It was a difficult life, with a lot of suffering and it was unsafe. People were being beaten and killed in the streets, so we also sought asylum in the United States. My son who was already in the States studied engineering and is now an engineer. My daughter is a social worker. There have been 8 million people that have fled Venezuela- the largest mass exodus and conditions continue to get worse. I am grateful that my family has been received here and found a place of opportunity where people care and want to help.