News, 10 years ago, this immigrant didn’t qualify for DACA protection. Now, he’s an entrepreneur : detailed suggestions and opinions about 10 years ago, this immigrant didn’t qualify for DACA protection. Now, he’s an entrepreneur .
Ten years ago, Alessandro Negrete missed out on the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program — better known as DACA — a policy that gives certain immigrant youth who were brought to the United States as children a work permit and protection from deportation. In 2008, Negrete had been arrested for being drunk in public and fighting with a police officer. While he eventually got his record expunged 10 years later, it kept him from qualifying for immigration relief.
His lack of DACA changed the trajectory of his life —pushing him toward success. Now, the 39-year-old, who came from Mexico as a baby with his mother, is an entrepreneur. He earns a six-figure salary as a communications, political and philanthropic strategy consultant. He makes his own schedule. He’s looking to buy his first home in Los Angeles.
“As people of color, growing up in poverty pushes us. I think the added layer of being status ambiguous pushed me even harder,” Negrete said.
Negrete, who launched Alessandro Advisors six years ago, is one of an estimated 820,000 entrepreneurs who are in the country without legal status, a jump from 770,000 in 2016, according to a study by the New American Economy, a research and immigration advocacy think tank based in New York.
