Read the whole article here.

When Harold Fernandez was applying to college back in 1984, it wasn’t an essay or the list of references that tripped him up. The problem was with his social security number.

He didn’t have one.

Fernandez—who is now a heart surgeon at St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn—was undocumented.

[…]

‘These were the times when I really started to feel how difficult it is to be in America without documents, because there’s not much you can do and you feel very helpless,’ Fernandez says. ‘And this is really how almost two million students feel right now that are trying to make their dream of an education a reality, but can’t because they cannot fix their documents, they cannot get the appropriate papers so that they can go on with their education.’

[…]

Photo by Ted Hesson.

Watch the video below to hear Fernandez speak about the disconnect between how undocumented immigrants are perceived and the reality:

Video

If you want the whole story, you’ll have to get his book.