By Tanya Chen ~ BuzzFeed ~ May 8, 2018
While it's touched hundreds of thousands of people online, Camila's candid photo also has some threatening to deport her.
Camila Silva is a 22-year-old recent graduate of the University of South Florida. She got a double degree in psychology and behavioral health care.
For most students, graduating university is a milestone accomplishment. However, for Silva, her journey to her degree became even more meaningful after she was met with a huge setback in 2014.
Silva is an undocumented DACA student, something she didn't even know until she left for college.
Silva told BuzzFeed News she and her parents immigrated to the US from Argentina when she was 5, and she grew up in Tampa.
After mishaps in the immigration process with a shady lawyer, her and her family's visas became inactive, she claimed.
"My parents kept our status a secret out of fear and shame," she explained.
According to Silva, she applied to college as a "regular student because I was unaware of my status." However, her father submitted her DACA paperwork.
Silva claimed the school processed her as an international student, and she was awarded an academic scholarship for her GPA and SAT scores, which also came with in-state tuition.
A spokesperson for USF told BuzzFeed News they couldn't confirm these details due to privacy laws.
"But we can confirm that Florida law only allows universities to use state funds on scholarships for students who are able to document their citizenship status," they said.
When Silva attempted to register for summer classes, she said the school realized she was undocumented, and retracted her scholarship and in-state tuition cost. (Out-of-state tuition is three times the cost). She was also forced to pay back the scholarship money she was awarded.
Suddenly, Silva had to figure out how she would pay for college on her own. She thought she'd have to drop out, she said.
But her dad was determined to have her daughter complete her education. "He’d cut his arm off before I dropped out," she said her dad told her at the time.
On BuzzFeed News' morning show, AM2DM, Silva explained her dad worked around the clock, her mom began cleaning houses, and she cut down her classes and worked full-time — all to get her through school.
The rest of the cost difference was made up from each of member of her family working around the clock.
"Honestly we just worked a lot," she said. "It was difficult but I always kept my goal in my mind."
On May 5, 2018, Silva graduated, and took a photo embracing her dad with tears streaming down her face. The photo has now gone megaviral.
"We made it work," she wrote, and hashtagged "undocugrad."
Her photo has now been retweeted over 191,000 times and liked close to 900,000 times.
SpPource: Tanya Chen ~ BuzzFeed
