Former Dreamer lends a hand to U.S. deportees arriving in Mexico

Americas Now

Israel Concha was taken to Texas by his Mexican parents when he was just four years old. Thirty years later he was deported.

Alone with no money or opportunities in Mexico City, Israel had nothing but his shattered self-esteem.

It motivated him to create a place to go for people like him – Mexican nationals who lived their entire lives in the U.S. and found themselves suddenly living in Mexico.

Our Game Changer is former Dreamer Israel Concha and his organization, New Beginning.

In the U.S., a Dreamer is a minor brought to the United States illegally by the parent but shielded from repatriation under the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors or DREAM Act. These protections were systematized by law starting in 2001 although recently those protections have been lifted resulting in the deportation of thousands.