00:00
I didn't let the no stop me.
00:02
I actually used that word.
00:04
You can't to fuel me uh to challenge myself to say I'm going
00:17
Let's begin the way we do with everyone with your, your name
00:21
So my name is Pacheco, also known as Gabby Pacheco and I'm originally
00:29
Do you have any memories of your childhood in Ecuador?
00:33
Yeah, I have plenty of memories from Ecuador.
00:35
I came when I was eight.
00:38
And so I, I was able to uh grow up and be a toddler and uh start
00:44
school, which I remember a lot of that.
00:46
But mostly what I remember is my family, a lot of the family
00:49
gatherings, uh the birthdays, Christmases, uh going to the
00:55
beach with my grandparents, my grandparents at a beach house
00:58
and I was the lucky one that got to spend a lot of time with them
01:02
because my sisters were, they're six and seven years older
01:06
And so they were already in school.
01:08
And so the one that got to stay as a baby and growing up uh with
01:11
my grandparents with me.
01:13
And so I would I would get to go with them to the beach house.
01:16
And, uh, I think the reason why I remember so much my childhood
01:20
is because there was very interesting things.
01:23
For instance, my grandfather had a monkey and, uh, he used
01:27
to take me to the beach with the money and he held the monkey
01:31
in one side of his arm, walking down the beach and I would walk
01:35
Uh, And so I, I remember these things very vividly.
01:39
I think it's just because they were unusual.
01:42
So, being the baby of the family has its privileges.
01:45
Well, there's my brother, uh but he was a baby baby.
01:49
So, um, and he came after me.
01:52
So I'm kind of like a middle child, baby type of.
01:58
I know your parents brought you to the US when you were eight
02:02
Did you know that you were leaving your country to come to the
02:07
So, at that time when I was eight years old, I thought that Ecuador
02:11
was the entire world and I thought that I was moving just from
02:16
one house to the other.
02:17
It was like moving from one city to the other.
02:21
And interesting enough, I didn't grasp the concept of being
02:28
And I remember that I used to watch TV, and I would hear this
02:33
thing that would say call your loved ones.
02:34
And it was a Spanish commercial and it had a jingle.
02:38
So it was very catchy.
02:39
And I said, I still remember it just, and I would dial it and
02:45
call my grandparents.
02:47
But I didn't know at the time that I was calling them Collect
02:51
and calling from the US to Ecuador Collect is very expensive
02:56
And I remember that all the time, I would call them every single
02:59
time I would see a pay phone.
03:00
That's the first thing I would do, just talk to them.
03:03
And I think looking back at that, uh it was a way for me to cope
03:08
with the fact that I couldn't see my grandparents but because
03:11
I had those opportunities to talk to them, um It didn't feel
03:16
as distance and I remember the first time I saw like the map
03:20
and I grasped the distance.
03:23
Uh It was so heart like breaking and uh to see that I was so far
03:28
away from them and that uh I couldn't just get in a car and go
03:33
visit them and see them.
03:35
What were your early days like in the US?
03:39
Uh I, I think I assimilated and I did really well at the beginning
03:47
Uh I think it's because I love school and I've always been a
03:53
And so when I came into school, I had a positive experience
03:58
because in Ecuador, the you are a little bit more advanced
04:02
in English and, and, and math than here in the US.
04:07
And everybody celebrated the fact that I had scored really
04:10
high in these tests and they had put me in these special, you
04:14
know, uh classes for gifted students.
04:17
And so that made me feel really good about myself and I guess
04:21
they set a bar for me and I started doing really well.
04:25
I lived in school practically.
04:27
I was, uh, in all the clubs, organizations I could be.
04:30
And at that time it was choir.
04:32
So I remember singing, not knowing what in the world I was saying
04:36
But you know, when you're saying, you sing, it doesn't really
04:38
matter the uh the words that you're saying.
04:41
Um But I, I remember just being happy having a lot of friends
04:48
That's one thing that um that there was a difference that my
04:53
parents worried a little bit about us and making sure that
04:56
we got home at a certain time, but it wasn't like how it was in
05:00
It wasn't uh you didn't feel unsafe, you were able to walk in
05:06
the streets and play and go to your friend's house and it was
05:11
I imagine life was much different for your parents once they
05:15
Talk to me about what, what their reality was like.
05:20
So I remember we came, uh we came with visas and like a lot of
05:26
country, a lot of people that come from Latin American countries
05:28
they come with a little bit of money.
05:30
Um And so my parents did come with a little bit of money.
05:33
And I remember that 34 months into us living in the United States
05:38
they already had run out of everything.
05:41
They had been able to accumulate by selling their house and
05:45
everything that was inside of their home.
05:48
And there was a lot of anxiety.
05:50
Um, I remember my mom used to wake up around four in the morning
05:55
to go to work and she wouldn't come back home until sometimes
06:01
89 o'clock at night.
06:03
And I remember that she worked on the weekends, uh, as well
06:09
Uh, she had gone to school here and she had gotten her, uh, what's
06:14
an LP N license as like an assistant nurse.
06:17
And so she worked with the elderly and she was really happy
06:20
because, you know, not knowing the language, she was able
06:22
to pass her Florida, you know, bar and, and she was able to get
06:27
license, but they worked really, really hard.
06:30
And, um, she was in home most of the time she was, she was working
06:35
and she would try, um, to do as much as she could for us, making
06:40
sure that there was like food for us.
06:42
And, uh, that on Sundays, you know, that she would take a little
06:45
bit of time to be with us.
06:47
But I, I could sense in my home, um, that both of my parents,
06:52
especially my mom, uh, that they were working themselves
06:55
to death to be, be able to provide for us and how did your dad
07:00
So, my dad has always been into businesses uh from real estate
07:04
to being a loan officer.
07:06
And in those early days they had started a business with friends
07:09
and um, I, I don't even know selling what, but I know that, you
07:15
know, he was into uh Negocios, right?
07:18
And um uh that's most of it.
07:22
He made a living doing that.
07:24
And the thing about business and, uh, being, uh, or being a
07:28
salesman is that if you don't sell something in that day, you
07:32
And so a lot of the burden was usually on, on my mom to, to bring
07:36
the money to bring the bread home.
07:40
Did there come a time where you realized that maybe you're
07:43
your experience was much different than other kids your
07:47
age there, there were time when I figured out or I realized
07:54
that I was different that when, even though I had the same grades
08:00
as other kids that I was not gonna be able to go to college, for
08:04
instance, was when I was in eighth grade and my sister had graduated
08:10
from high school and she had tried to go to mama college to get
08:17
And at MD college they had told her that, um, nope, that she
08:21
didn't have papers and so she couldn't go to school.
08:24
And to me that was such a blow because since I was in fifth grade
08:28
I fell in love with the concept of college and university
08:32
and I had been chosen to participate in this big concert that
08:37
the best of the best musicians or kids um from around the Coun
08:42
County get to go to um for a week.
08:45
And uh I remember the first time stepping into, um and seeing
08:50
like the buildings and how big and everybody just walking
08:55
Um and I fell in love with it but it really, I didn't get sold
09:00
on the idea of a college or university until all of us were walked
09:05
into the cafeteria of um and I remember all the kids just saying
09:10
whoa and see that they had so many options and there was restaurants
09:16
inside this cafeteria and we all had conversations there
09:21
talking about how we wanted to go to college to be able to, you
09:24
know, eat what we wanted to eat.
09:27
So in eighth grade, when I come to that reality that my sister
09:32
can go to school and I'm like, well, that's my sister that's
09:36
Um I got really scared and so if I used to be a good student or
09:43
uh love school, that volume was put times 10.
09:48
Um and I just started like absorbing as much as I could from
09:53
the time that I was in school because I felt that I was not gonna
09:58
have that opportunity like my friends to go to college, uh
10:01
because my sister didn't get to do that and that was probably
10:05
gonna be the reality for me too.
10:07
And has that been your reality?
10:11
Talking about, talk to me about how it's been different for
10:14
Well, the difference between my sisters that didn't, uh,
10:18
when they graduated from high school they weren't able to
10:22
Uh, was that I, I didn't let the, no stop me.
10:27
I actually used that word.
10:29
You can't to fuel me, uh, to challenge myself to say, I'm going
10:37
And I actually found people at Miami Dade College that saw
10:42
that fire in me and said, we're gonna do whatever we can to help
10:47
And so we were able to find a way to get a visa for me to go to MD
10:54
College as an international student.
10:56
And I remember the day that, uh, after months of every day going
11:03
in at six in the morning being the first one waiting for the
11:06
door to open to say half of this stuff isn't enough.
11:10
And they're like, no, you need this and this go back home.
11:12
It's like, oh, but when they finally gave me my schedule of
11:17
classes, I saw it and I looked at it and I cried and I touched
11:22
the paper because I couldn't even believe that, you know,
11:27
And I touched the paper and I made a promise and I said to myself
11:31
my sisters couldn't go to school.
11:34
There's friends of mines that didn't get to go to school and
11:38
I'm going to school and I'm gonna fight to make sure that, uh
11:41
my sisters and my friends and people like me have an opportunity
11:51
Was there, as you mentioned, people at Miami Dade who were
11:56
Was there anyone in particular that you can look back on and
11:58
say, wow, that person really helped me out in a very big way
12:02
Is there someone that you're thankful for it?
12:06
There's three women that made it happen.
12:09
Um One of them is her name is Sue Georgie and Sue Georgie was
12:15
a recruiter and she had come to one of the fairs that we, that
12:20
they had at the school and I went up to her and I said, look, I
12:24
don't have papers, I'm undocumented, but I really want to
12:26
go to school and I started selling myself to her.
12:29
I am the president of this organization and I have this GPA
12:33
and I'm silver knife for this and that and she's just there
12:36
like, wow, like, you know, I impressed her and she said, OK
12:40
you want to go to school?
12:41
We'll figure out a way.
12:42
So she started connecting me to people and she connected me
12:46
uh to the international students director who is the other
12:50
person that just started helping me and Flores uh the, the
12:54
director of Miami Dade College said the same thing.
12:57
She was like, we figure it out.
12:59
I don't know how, but we'll figure it out.
13:01
But I remember then that when I was a little girl doing all these
13:07
battery of tests that they did in order to place me in school
13:10
my parents, what they had done was to ensure that we didn't
13:16
They, they gave us and they, they took us to international
13:19
student office at Miami Dade County public Schools and got
13:24
So I originally had a visa when I was in third grade and I lost
13:30
Like my sisters did going from one school to the other.
13:34
So when I went from elementary school, I lost it going to middle
13:38
And I remember very vividly and clearly when Sophia um told
13:43
my parents, Gabby, you uh you have to make sure that you stay
13:53
You have this visa called duration status.
13:55
As long as you're going to school, you're fine.
13:58
But what they failed to say was if you change schools, like
14:01
when you go from elementary school to middle school, you have
14:04
And so I went looking for Sofia and Sophia still worked there
14:08
And I said you did this and I was so angry and I told her you ruined
14:14
You didn't explain it the right way.
14:17
And I remember my dad being so angry at me and looking at me like
14:22
And then Sophia looked at me with so much compassion and said
14:25
I'm sorry, like that's the, the rules, that's what they told
14:30
And then I said, put it on paper.
14:32
So Sophia smiled and said, I've never seen somebody with so
14:37
much fire and desire to go to school.
14:41
And so between these three women, um and tons of other people
14:45
But you know, those were the three that opened the door for
14:49
me and opened the door of opportunity to be able to go to school
14:53
and go to Miami College and eventually graduate with three
15:00
What, what degrees have you graduated with?
15:03
So I have a degree in my first degree, was an associate in arts
15:07
and music education.
15:08
And then from there, I wanted to extend my international student
15:13
So I did an associates in science and early childhood education
15:17
Uh and then I went on to do a bachelor's degree in special education
15:23
And what are you doing now?
15:26
So I just finished um one of the biggest, I think fights of my
15:32
Um my short, you know, 27 years lived life, I became an immigrant
15:39
And one of the things that I feel very accomplished and very
15:42
proud uh is the fact that we were able to win deferred action
15:47
uh for dreamers or, or specific uh dreamers and uh as an immigrant
15:54
rights activist doing all this work right now, I'm taking
15:58
time off and I'm stepping back so that other leaders could
16:01
come and continue the work.
16:03
Uh And especially in a young people's movement, there's a
16:06
time where you don't kind of relate to the 18 years old anymore
16:09
So I'm stepping back, I'm trying to figure out what's next
16:14
Uh Because I do want to go to school.
16:16
I wanna make sure that one day uh when people call me, they say
16:20
doctor Pacheco, right?
16:22
I wanna get my doctor's degree.
16:24
And the other thing is that my passion and my love uh is actually
16:28
working with people with mental disabilities, specifically
16:31
people with Down Syndrome and autism.
16:33
And so uh doing the work of or being inside immigration, um
16:40
it takes a lot, a lot of work.
16:42
You have to give it your all.
16:44
And um I felt that it's too distinct path that I've learned
16:50
a lot but it's not, it's not my calling, which is to work with
16:54
people uh with Down Syndrome autism, people with mental disability
16:58
So I've taken the time to stop reflect and figure out, you know
17:03
how do I get to my end goal, which is getting my doctor's degree
17:07
and working in, in my field.
17:11
When you, as I'm sure you've heard when you hear from people
17:15
hey, you know what if they're here illegally, they're here
17:20
They need to get in the back of the line and they need to leave
17:26
So, I feel very, I try to come people and meet them at where they're
17:32
at whenever they tell me things like you're illegal or you
17:36
you, you are just a criminal and I try to explain to them, uh
17:41
one of the, the big myths, right?
17:44
And it's that we don't want to become citizens for instance
17:49
And I tried to explain to them that even if I wanted to pay $10
17:54
million to the government, to an attorney to help me make the
17:59
line, there is no line.
18:02
And so I try to, to tell people that and I uh in a very compassionate
18:07
and loving way because I feel that people don't, it's not that
18:12
It's just that they don't understand us.
18:15
And uh many times I've had many times people do then have that
18:21
conversation, it's very uncomfortable because it, you kind
18:25
of have to just prove yourself.
18:27
But um I would say that 90% of the time when I've had that conversation
18:34
with people and I've told my story, people have come to say
18:39
OK, I get it, we need to reform our immigration system or I
18:46
You know, it's not your fault.
18:48
There's something bigger that is not allowing you to integrate
18:51
completely into our community.
18:53
And I think that the biggest thing that usually makes people
18:57
understand is when I say, and I show them how much, I love this
19:03
country and how much as much as this is their home.
19:07
This is also my home.
19:09
I'm sure that over the course of the work that you've done on
19:12
behalf of immigrant rights, you've met countless other young
19:16
people like yourself who were brought here as Children and
19:20
it faced many of the same issues.
19:22
Um Have there been many commonalities in your experiences
19:27
Can you talk to me about that?
19:31
Regardless if people came in a plane came through Mexico or
19:39
Uh, I think that the struggles that we have in the United States
19:44
it's immigrants, uh, really tie us and bond us together.
19:49
And, um, the discrimination that we go through is not the discrimination
19:56
for instance, that African Americans go through.
19:58
It's, it's discrimination overall but it's more of all of
20:06
us are in this cage and we're able and allowed to participate
20:12
in the community either by, uh, working right in the fields
20:19
working in the hotel industry and making people's beds or
20:24
We're allowed to do certain things.
20:26
But there comes a time where you want to walk out of that cage
20:30
and do certain things.
20:32
Like go to school, get a better job, um, uh, travel and see the
20:38
world and we come to the reality that we are inside that cage
20:45
and like poor little birds probably could see the world around
20:50
But as soon as they try to fly out, they hit themselves against
20:54
And I think that those commonalities we all have and there's
20:59
this fire that we have inside of us to achieve and be able to
21:04
seek those dreams that we have, but we're not allowed to and
21:11
And I think that the, the single most thing that uh unites us
21:17
and when I talk to young people all over is fear, right?
21:21
This fear that we all have that we all live in the shadow.
21:24
And that uh that sense of we cannot do things like you cannot
21:29
drive, you cannot go to school.
21:32
Uh you cannot travel.
21:33
Um And it's, and I think that those disheartening um obstructions
21:41
that we have in our lives kind of bring us together and we're
21:45
able to relate and say, oh yeah, I couldn't get that job that
21:49
I got offered making $80,000 a year because I don't have papers
21:53
So I'm making 18 and it's like, yeah, me too.
21:57
You know, I got offered this really great job to be a manager
22:01
But, you know, I'm just now I the only thing I could do is is flip
22:05
burgers if suddenly students without their documentation
22:12
are allowed to stay and allowed to study and allowed to realize
22:17
Um Would that necessarily be a good thing for the country and
22:21
why I think that we're in the 21st century.
22:28
And when we think about the United States and our country as
22:32
a whole, we can't think of the borders that just surround us
22:38
Uh That's no longer a reality for us.
22:41
We're in the 21st century where globalization is happening
22:48
And if we don't educate the people that live in our country
22:53
the people that grew up here that know the streets and our
22:59
boyfriends and girlfriends and partners to our Children
23:05
If we don't allow those people, regardless of their status
23:10
or not in this country to get an education, we are going to fall
23:15
behind and we are not gonna be a country that is part of the 21st
23:20
And I think that for us as a country that has been going through
23:24
a bad, uh recession and we've been going through an economic
23:29
crisis, the best way to come out of that crisis is to make sure
23:34
that we have people that speak different languages that could
23:39
compete against other people in the world that could go to
23:43
work and make uh money in order to pay taxes in order for the
23:49
the economy to continue to circulate.
23:51
And so I, I think that for those people that say, well, you know
23:55
we shouldn't give those opportunities to those people because
23:59
you know, they're here wrongfully.
24:01
Uh I think that it's a very bad, bad way of thinking about it
24:06
Uh, because those people are their neighbors, those people
24:10
are the people that they go to church with.
24:12
And so um by holding back other folks, what you actually do
24:17
is create a very big uh gap between those that have and those
24:24
We have a very contentious election just weeks away.
24:29
And there are many who are in, in, in your position, um who are
24:35
not allowed to vote.
24:36
Uh But they also have a lot of friends and family that are in
24:43
What would you like those that are in fact in a position to vote
24:48
to know about this situation and consider as they make their
24:54
final decision to cast a vote.
24:58
So I think that the most important thing that one of the as human
25:02
beings we have in here and people who are citizens um is the
25:08
And when I talk to people be my, my family or friends and they
25:14
tell me, oh, I'm not gonna vote because you know, Xy and Z I get
25:19
so angry, I get angry because I look at what is happening in
25:23
the Middle East when I see a 14 year old get shot because she's
25:26
speaking out and saying that she wants to get an education
25:30
And I think about the women here in this country who have that
25:33
ability to get an education and are looked at as equal.
25:37
But less than 100 years ago, they had to fight in order to be
25:41
able to vote and people take that lightly.
25:45
And I think that that shouldn't be taken lightly.
25:47
So that's one stance, the other stance is there's so much at
25:53
stake and the less that we show the power that we have as a community
25:58
to say, who should be in power or not, the less politicians
26:02
are going to listen to us.
26:05
And as a Latina, I know that my community is suffering with
26:10
unemployment rates being high with a majority of the undocumented
26:15
people being Latino or Latina and politicians just brushing
26:22
off those issues because we don't vote.
26:25
And so I tell I had a conversation with my uncle and he was like
26:30
oh, you know, it's just gonna be such a waste of time.
26:32
And I said, no, you have to.
26:35
And I remember him saying, OK, I'm gonna do it.
26:37
He became a citizen.
26:39
He has registered to vote and he is going to be voting and I am
26:43
I'm really proud of that.
26:44
And I hope that the people that I consider my friends on November
26:50
6th go out and vote for me for the 14 year old that got shot because
26:56
she wants to get an education and for the women that put their
27:00
lives in risk and some even died to be able to have that opportunity
27:04
to be looked as equal and go up, you know, and cast a ballot and
27:09
and decide who the, the next leader uh for them for this country
27:13
is going to be knowing what, you know, now, if you could give
27:19
advice to a recently arrived eight year old girl, what would
27:26
Uh This makes me tea.
27:34
So um I think that they're the most precious thing and what
27:42
I would say to and you all this, whatever you set your mind to
27:49
Don't let anybody ever tell you you can't.
27:53
Um And I grew up like that with that thought in my mind, I had
27:59
so many people tell me you can't, I had my high school counselor
28:04
tell me you can't go to college.
28:09
You have to be careful because you're gonna put yourself in
28:12
deportation proceeding and your whole family.
28:14
You can't, don't put yourself out there.
28:18
Um, I had people that, that would tell me, oh, you can't ride
28:21
That's too tall for you.
28:23
You can't, uh, you can't sing.
28:26
You can't, uh, take that class and get a good grade because
28:30
it's too advanced for you.
28:31
And I pushed myself and I did it and I'm here and I'm successful
28:36
and I've been successful in everything I've done.
Series