Minnesota Public Radio and reporter Jennifer Vogel recently sat down with Gustavus Adolphus College graduate Irma Marquez Trapero to discuss her life journey and the barriers she has faced as an undocumented person. The story describes how Marquez Trapero and her family came to St. James, Minn., from Mexico on a visa. After graduating from St. James High School, she came to Gustavus hoping to major in nursing, only to discover that her undocumented status would force her to change majors and career paths.
The story explains that Marquez Trapero recently applied for and received “deferred action” status, a new federal program that allows some immigrants who came to the United States as children to avoid deportation for two years and gain permission to work. After volunteering for Minnesotans United for All families in the fall, Marquez Trapero now has temporary legal status in the United States and is applying for jobs to hopefully utilize the political science degree she earned at Gustavus last spring.
While at Gustavus, Marquez Trapero was heavily involved and engaged in campus life. She was a member of the Zeta Phi Chi sorority, involved in I Am We Are and the Crossroads Program, and was Co-Chair of the Building Bridges Conference last year — an experience, she told The Gustavian Weekly, that was “life changing.” In 2010, Marquez Trapero was named a Jay and Rose Phillips Family Scholar, a program that recognizes and rewards Minnesota private college students who strive to make life better for people with unmet needs in Minnesota communities.
Minnesota Public Radio’s story about Marquez Trapero, including a five minute video interview, can be read and heard online.
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