Lions and Tigers and Activists, Oh My!

Mundo Citizen
It has been a busy year and part of the reason for writing sporadically is because activism has become a priority in my life.
I wished I could have written more about my work in the past year, perhaps in the future I will, but in Mexico, we experience “Momentum” in our advocacy work this past year. To give you an idea, I briefly describe some of the projects that kept me busy in Mexico City since June 2014:
• Education: I completed my Master’s program in Global Migration and although I did not attend my graduation in London, I received my diploma via mail a couple months ago. I hope to have made proud those that supported me on my campaign #DreamsWithtoutBorders which made it possible for me to pursue my dream of completing grad school. Unfortunately, as is the case for my U.S. Bachelor’s degree, this Master’s is not recognized in Mexico (read more below on education revalidation requirements).
UCL Diploma
• Research in Interculturality and Transnational Advocacy: My newly completed “formal” training in migration studies jump started my career as an emerging scholar with “transborder experience” (wink, wink) and worked on two projects; the first one included a research project which led to my first institutional publication (Spanish) for the Mexico City government which looked at access and visibility of the population subject to rights through the Law of Interculturality passed in 2011. In the second project I supported the planning and organization of a transnational conference that propelled transnational mobilization of youth migrant activists. Below is a link to the recorded “Talk Show” (Spanish) that reviewed the objective and outcomes of our conference and a closer look at the stories of some of the 29 youth activists that participated.
• Education Inclusion in Mexico: In collaboration with the nonprofit sector and allies, we increased visibility of the barriers faced by Mexican-American children who return to Mexico with their deported parents as well as young returned and deported Dreamers in accessing the educational system in Mexico, which has become discriminatory to those with a foreign education.
The political pressure we have been exerted translated into recent legal changes that will facilitate the resinsertion of children and youth who want to continue their education in Mexico and need their school revalidation (only applicable to education up to high school; higher education continues to be an issue). I have also lead efforts in creating a working group with the Secretariat of Public Education to have a dialogue about the implementation of the normative changes recently adopted as well as other changes required to facilitate recognition of foreign studies for Dreamers with a college education.
#Dreamers in the Land of Oz
The Los Otros Dreamers, The Book played a central part role in the advocacy work I become involved with since my relocation to Mexico City last year.
Besides the book launch coordinated by the co-authors, I lead efforts to organize a conference among the returnees/deportees featured in the book to continue to build and strengthen this informal community of returned youth. We are not a movement yet nor a political community in my opinion, but they are many of us who have engaged in political activism to demand concrete programs and initiatives aimed to facilitate the reinsertion for the Mexican Diaspora back in Mexico.
Almost six years since my deportation, three of which I have dedicated to advocacy work, we still lack an adequate response from the Mexican government. Government entities like the Mexican Foreign Affairs (SRE) would rather spend time and resources convincing a binacional audience of government officials and scholars of their services and programs they offer to the Mexican Diaspora in the U.S. in every conference they host while investing in little programs to help the “Mexicans abroad” who are now back in Mexico. Additionally, SRE easily pays for trips for DACAmented Dreamer delegations propelling a Dreamer friendly image, while at the same time making the real #DreamersInMexico (those of us who live in Mexico) invisible. And there are also the Mexican politician delegations that visit the U.S. which explicitly say to U.S. Dreamers they have programs that employ Dreamers like themselves when they return to Mexico, when we know there isn’t any such programs (we have asked around). And there are other DACA Dreamers that come with academic institutions and make films documenting their journeys back to Mexico that make them the protagonists in the story of the Mexican that no longer has roots in their country, but yet they happily return back to the U.S. while we stay on this side of the border. Story after story of disappointment and dismissal we have experienced from so many angles (and by people you would expect solidarity and support from), but we carry on our struggle as we fight for our own recognition here and abroad.
These are some important highlights of the work I have lead/collaborated in México. It has been tough, tiresome, thankless, and unpaid work of this rollercoaster experience as an activist and deportee with the reward and gratification and responsibility I feel to work on issues that have affected me personally. Definitely a Dororthy-like experience of trying to find my way back home, lost in the Land of Oz.
On my way to Emerald City
Now, after almost six years of work in rebuilding a life #postdeportation, I am taking a break from this to focus on myself to reflect on which path on the yellow brick road I will take. Be it my restless nature or desire to learn and grow by going out of my comfort zone, I had decided to submit an application for a training program (once again abroad), designed to train young professional from rising powers on global issues.
As a result, I find myself in Germany, freshly arrived from an 18-hour flight (given the creative route I have to take to avoid connecting flights in the U.S. because I would get in trouble if I stepped a foot on U.S. soil). Participants for this program come from emerging economies in the Global South, three of us are from Mexico (and with U.S. presence infiltrated due to my American upbringing), and I am the only the one has an “expertise” in migration studies. In the following months, I will be crossing more borders around the Europe, learning about international cooperation and about being a global leader and citizen, as well as expanding my vision of myself and my work.
I’m ready for this new chapter of my life, which I begin by documenting the almost scripted “interrogation” of the two immigration officers I encountered along my flight to Germany.

Nancy: For academic purposes.
Officer: What is the program about?
Nancy: It is a program on leadership and international cooperation?
Officer: Do you know anybody in Germany? (he asks as he continuous to inspect my passport suspiciously)
Nancy: (debating whether to say yes since I am yet to get to know the other participants): Well, yes I could say.
Officer: What kind of work do you do?
Nancy: I am a researcher.
Officer: In what field?
Nancy: In migration studies
As fix my gaze for a reaction, I felt a sensation that was new to me, an unknown sense of empowerment, experiencing for the first time a fearlessness in interacting with immigration officer. Given my past, immigration check-points had become a dreaded experience from the anticipated suspicion and antagonism we often experience. However, there was nothing they could do or say to intimidate me.
This is edited version of the orginal post on Nancy Landa facebook page visit <a href="http://wp.me/p2N8jU-kQ" target="_blank">http://wp.me/p2N8jU-kQ</a> for the full version.