Dulce García, a dreamer, has lived most of her life as an undocumented immigrant in the United States, but with the help of a travel permit, she was able to return to Mexico, albeit only for a short time.
Her goal when she arrived in Mexico was to help those seeking asylum. Although, she said she faced a cruel reality.
"I was very moved to see these children. They didn't have a bathroom, there were no showers, they bathed outdoors with buckets and it was very shocking and very emotional," Garcia said.
Garcia an immigration lawyer, is also a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) beneficiary. DACA is an Obama-era program that allows qualified individuals who were brought to the U.S. unlawfully as children, to live and work in the U.S. without fear of deportation. Garcia was able to travel to Mexico on an Advance Parole permit that allows her to legally leave and reenter the U.S.
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She arrived in Tijuana to visit the migrant camps where hundreds of migrants are seeking political asylum in the U.S., she said she discovered the terrible conditions they are living in on the border.
"There's nothing like seeing it in person, like living it in person, this injustice, because on the San Diego side without papers, I just imagined how the situation was and watched video and photos, and the team was reporting the situation to me," Garcia said.
Garcia is also the executive director of the cross-border nonprofit, Border Angels.
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Her struggle to return to her native country has been long and exhausting. Its been more than 30 years since Garcia came to the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant when she was just 4 years old.
"Growing up without documents and going to school I always had this fear, I didn't understand exactly what it was like not to have papers because my parents did a good job hiding it from me so I wouldn't worry," Garcia said.
During her stay in Tijuana, along with other organizations, helped install public baths, donated hygiene products, food, clothing and provided legal advice to the migrants.
In addition, she said she managed to file more than 50 applications for political asylum and more than a dozen people managed to cross into San Diego.
This article was originally posted on NBC 7's sister station, Telemundo 20. To read the original story, click here.
