Archives West Finding Aid

This oral history interview with Jhoana Monroy-Espinoza was conducted by Sankar Raman on February 5, 2018. The interview was recorded for The Immigrant Story, an organization that documents and archives the stories of immigrants and refugees in the United States. In this interview, Espinoza discusses her early life in Pachuca, Mexico, and the journey to the United States in 1997. She talks about life as an undocumented immigrant in Beaverton, Oregon, including her education and the racial discrimination she and her family faced. She then talks about becoming a teenage parent and refocusing on her education. She talks about marrying her partner and being denied a green card due to her undocumented status; the deportation of some of her family members; and applying for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. She talks about studying at Portland Community College and her plans for the future. She closes the interview by discussing the stress of living with undocumented status, the systemic racism in the United States, and her work with the Dream Center.