Collection is open for research.
Gift of The Immigrant Story, June 2021 (RL2021-057).
Miguel Rodriguez was born in Mexico in 1993. In 1997, he came with his family to California, where his sister received medical treatment for a burn. The family remained in the United States, but found themselves unable to obtain U.S. citizenship. Around 2010, they moved to Roseburg, Oregon. Miguel Rodriguez attended Umpqua Community College. He found a job and attended Portland State University under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy. During this time, he and his mother were able to get green cards under the Violence Against Women Act. In 2016, he earned a bachelor's degree from PSU, then joined AmeriCorps and worked as a college access coach at Madison High School in Portland. He later worked in academic support services at Reed College, and as director of Portland Through a Latinx Lens, a nonprofit organization that collects and shares stories from Latin American immigrants.
Oral history interview with Miguel Rodriguez, by David Lippoff, SR 12324, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
This oral history interview with Miguel Rodriguez was conducted by David Lipoff on July 16, 2019. 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, Rodriguez discusses his sister's injury, which led the family to leave Mexico and seek medical treatment in the United States; shares their reasons for staying; and talks about the legal barriers that prevented them from receiving U.S. citizenship. He discusses his early life in Los Angeles, California; his relationship with his father and step-father; and moving to Roseburg to live near his step-father's family. He talks about the financial hardship that led his mother and step-father to return to Los Angeles, about attending Umpqua Community College, and about the deaths of some of his family members in L.A. He speaks at length about the limitations on his life and the feelings of vulnerability caused by his status as an undocumented immigrant. He talks about the positive effect that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy had on his life, including the ability to find a job and attend Portland State University. He then talks about getting a green card along with his mother under the Violence Against Women Act. He speaks about his cultural and ethnic identity. He talks about his work as a college access coach at Madison High School, about his reasons for volunteering with AmeriCorps, and about difficult conversations with his conservative grandfather. He shares his hopes and plans for the future and talks about his career goals. He closes the interview by talking about his involvement in non-profit organizations focused on the Latino community, particularly the organization Portland Through a Latinx Lens.
Joint copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society and The Immigrant Story. Use is allowed according to the following statement: In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted,
An article about Miguel Rodriguez, "Becoming His Own Role Model" by David Lippoff, was based on this interview and published on The Immigrant Story website at