Two Harvard graduate students hold event for deportees and returnees
Mayra Sandoval visited Mexico on a Fulbright Scholarship in 2016, she volunteered with an organization helping U.S. deportees and returnees navigate their lives after arriving in Mexico. Hearing some of their tales — both struggles and successes — Sandoval had a clear thought: These are untold stories.
“I never really heard about what it was like when you are deported [or choose to return]. People just got forgotten.” – Mayra
Now that she is her final semester at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Sandoval and her classmate Ariana Aparicio Aguilar want others to hear some of those untold stories, too. So they organized an event, “Return Migration: The Untold Stories,” that they hope will give attendees a sense of the hardships deportees and those who return voluntarily can encounter, along with the achievements they can attain.
The event, took place on April 2nd at Askwith Hall, in collaboration with UndocuAllies Initiative, a HGSE student group that focuses on issues facing undocumented immigrants and those with Temporary Protected Status. Aguilar and Sandoval are the group’s co-presidents.
It was a success!
