Daughter of Deported Latino Immigrants Graduates Law School

Daihana Estrada, 29, graduated from law school last month, making her family and community proud – not just for the obvious, but also for being the first recipient of a Chicago Coalition for the Homeless scholarship. Yes, you read that right. She became homeless after her parents were deported from Utah to Mexico when she was just 17 years old.

Estrada — who is a U.S. citizen — was given a choice by her parents: she could come with them, or she could join her brother in Chicago. She decided to do the latter, thinking the USA would bring her more opportunities than Mexico; but, her brother, who was only 3 years older, couldn’t really take much care of her.

She dined on popcorn when there was no food in the apartment, slept on her friends couches whenever they had fights, and got a job at Best Buy to support herself. Despite the odds against her, she got into the University of Illinois at Chicago, was given a full ride and awarded the Homeless Coalition’s scholarship, which helped her move into campus housing.

Estrada found an important ally in Vanessa Puentes, her English teacher at Hancock, who taught her some basic life skills — from how to take the bus or how to apply for a medical card, to offering her shelter after she graduated.

Right now, her days are busy studying to pass the bar examination next month — the last barrier to fulfilling her dream of becoming an immigration lawyer and helping immigrants like her parents. “This has been 12 years that I wanted this,” says Estrada to the Chicago Sun Times, who graduated in May from the Loyola University Chicago School of Law.