"Being undocumented is being political."

Sharet Garcia discusses immigration advocacy, networking, and the origins of UndocuProfessionals

Reflecting on how she made one of the most visible and public resources for individuals labeled as undocumented, Sharet Garcia takes a breath: “UndocuProfessionals has been around for four years now.”

Over those four years, Garcia has built a lifesaving community that shares work opportunities, resources, and kinship. The network’s mentorship program alone has served hundreds of individuals with key skills for thriving in the U.S.

In the second part of our conversation, Garcia describes the origins of UndocuProfessionals and the surprising repercussions she sometimes encounters as a leading advocate for the undocumented community.

Antero Garcia: You started UndocuProfessionals four years ago? You felt like, "I need to create this?"

Sharet Garcia: Yes. Four years ago I was starting my career as a counselor. I had just finished my master's program. I was completely undocumented: non-DACA, with no work permit, no social security number.

When DACA came in, I actually was able to apply for it and I received a work permit and social security number, and I was just finishing paying my master's degree. I had like three more payments to go to finish paying for my degree out of pocket. Once I had a professional job, I realized how lonely I felt and how I didn't know much about this world. I felt the need to have a community that could understand some of the situations that I was experiencing.

AG: Wow!

SG: I was also in a doctoral program at this time. This was one of the reasons why I enrolled in this doctoral program: I wanted to do research around the undocumented community. So, I decided this would be a great opportunity to do research on the work that I was already doing and using it to support this platform. All of this kind of came together.

I was a DACA recipient after being undocumented without DACA for over 20 years. It has always been on my mind: what happens if DACA gets revoked today? What if I lose my work permit today? I'm going to lose this job and I can't start again from zero. I have to use what I have and continue working with what I have. So, I decided I'm going to start something and that's why UndocuProfessionals was created.

AG: How has it been putting yourself in the public eye for the last four years?

SG: I went from being a very private person ... I was not on social media. I never even had a Facebook account or Instagram account. Nothing. I was-

AG: You went the opposite direction!

SG: Yeah, I went totally opposite. I think everybody thinks I love being on social media, but honestly, it's so uncomfortable. Even today, it's still very uncomfortable. And one of the things that I have noticed is that it has helped in so many ways, being out there and putting myself out there. It has given me the opportunity to become a consultant and support a lot of organizations and schools. I get paid to share my experiences, how I have started this work, and how I created a business. These are all great things.

But on the other hand, it has definitely been difficult. I put myself out there and, when you're undocumented or talking about undocumented people, there's no way you're not going to talk about politics, right?

AG: Yeah.

SG: Being undocumented is being political.

AG: Whether you want to be or not, right?

When you're undocumented or talking about undocumented people, there's no way you're not going to talk about politics. Being undocumented is being political.

SG: Yes. Whether I want to or not. That's where I've seen some conflict with certain institutions and organizations. And maybe I have hurt some of my relationships. Right now, I'm focusing on landing a tenured position as a full-time counselor or career counseling at the higher ed level. I'm particularly interested in community colleges. There're so many institutions that are so much friendlier to people of color.

AG: Has UndocuProfessionals helped you with this career path?

SG: I think in some ways, it has hurt me. I’ll go to interviews, and I have to talk about UndocuProfessionals because it's a part of the work that I am leading. I've had people in interviews tell me, "Oh, I follow your account. I support the work that you're doing," all these great things. But when it comes to giving me the job, I haven't been landing the job. There are a lot of things that are questionable there, but it's fine. This is still a learning experience for me.

AG: Are there things that people can do to support the work of UndocuProfessionals?

SG: The reason I created this platform is because I wanted to have conversations where we not only support each other, but sometimes just share space and talk about how aspiring professionals—that happen to be undocumented—can transition to the workforce. We need this now more than ever, because DACA is in serious trouble. Even those with DACA may lose this privilege soon and may not be able to continue having these jobs.

We need people to help sustain spaces where we have these very difficult conversations that it feels like nobody's really ready to talk about. Especially when we start talking about DACA being revoked. It's very hard. It's heavy on us to even start thinking about it. We're not mentally ready to talk about Plan B or C for what happens if DACA gets revoked. And then we need more tangible support. One of the things that I think we need to work on is educating schools, organizations, institutions in general on how they can provide inclusive opportunities and paid opportunities to undocumented communities. Some of these institutions have very old policies that exclude the undocumented community.

Propina

The UndocuProfessionals Virtual Mentoring Program is still open for mentees and mentors. Please consider applying or sharing with anyone who might qualify. The first half of our conversation with Sharet last week offers details about the program.

And a huge shout-out of gratitude to Claudia Dawson and Recomendo for sharing La Cuenta with their readers.

(We recomend Recomendo!)

Welcome, Recomendolitos! 👋🏾👋🏾👋🏾

We’ll see you next week.