About

Dulce Valencia is an artist, storyteller, and organizer from Guerrero, Mexico.

When Dulce was 12 years old, she arrived to the United States with her mom as an undocumented immigrant on Christmas Day.

She grew up knowing she was undocumented but didn’t know what that meant until in 8th grade she was voted student of the year. As part of this award, she was to be given a small scholarship. “All you need is your social security number,” her principal said. When Dulce told her she didn’t have one, the principal told her that was impossible because everyone had one.

After this, Dulce did what many undocumented immigrants do: she hid. She realized that everything required a social security number: getting a driver’s license, getting a job, and going to college.

In 2012, President Obama announced DACA. To Dulce’s great disappointment, she found out she didn’t qualify.