Jose C. is a 27-year-old math tutor from North Hollywood, California. He recently graduated from the University of California at Berkeley. After high school, Jose worked full time to help his mother pay the bills; eventually he went on to community college, and from there, was accepted into UC Berkeley, one of California’s finest schools. Jose’s parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico in 1975. “It was a time of economic crisis in Mexico and economic opportunity in America,” says Jose. “They came in search of opportunity and to provide a better life for their children.” Both have worked in what Jose describes as “hard labor jobs”; his father is a gardener and his mother is a housekeeper at a hotel. Neither of them ever got a chance to receive an education. “My parents feel proud that I graduated from Berkeley,” says Jose. “At first, they didn’t really understand the magnitude of it, but now they do, and they realize that all of their sacrifices were worth it.”Jose, who majored in engineering, is currently working as a math tutor. He serves many privileged children who can afford his tutoring, but he also offers discounted tutoring to poor children who can’t afford his normal rates. “I come from a low-income, underprivileged family, and I know what it feels like to struggle and work hard so you can go to a good school,” he says. “I relate to the underprivileged population and I want to give back.”
As a child of immigrants, Jose cares deeply about the direction of immigration policy. "We have to understand as Americans that the country was built by immigrants and we need immigrants," says Jose. "People have to understand why immigrants are coming here, and once we understand that, then we can start creating fair policies.
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