June is Immigrant Heritage Month, and we’re celebrating the amazing students in America whose families made the brave choice to move to America. In a recent profile, USA Today highlighted the story of Indira Islas – a woman, a Dreamer, and now, a college graduate. 

Islas is a recent graduate of Delaware State University. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, she was chosen to give a speech to her class, the class of 2020, at graduation. Now that physical graduations aren’t safe for the time being, she’s still giving her speech – just over Zoom. 

Islas’ story is similar to other Dreamers. Her parents fled violence in Mexico and sought refuge in the United States. Islas earned her degree with the assistance of funding for students like her from TheDream.US, which is estimated to have sponsored about 600 graduates this year alone. 

If the current economic instability, driven by a loss of jobs from the pandemic, isn’t enough, Islas also has to worry about the upcoming SCOTUS decision about whether or not Dreamers like her are allowed to stay in the United States under DACA. Islas has spent the vast majority of her life here, growing up in Georgia and going to school in Delaware to take advantage of the scholarships available to her. Her dream is to become a doctor, like both of her parents. 

This isn’t the first time that Islas’ life has been threatened by the current administration. She had to study through the stress of not only an anti-immigration president being elected, but also through her father being threatened with deportation and her family’s fight to have him stay. 

In the present moment, Islas is just proud of how far she’s come and is enjoying the time with her family beside her back home in Georgia. She’s earned this moment, having fought every step of the way. She’s more than a Dreamer. She’s the American Dream.

Read the full profile here.