Pareen Mhatre is an immigration activist and on the Board of Directors for Improve The Dream, a youth-led, nonprofit that supports citizenship for children whose parents are long-term visa holders. They are known as “Documented Dreamers,” and Pareen is one of more than 200,000 people who fall under this category. Her involvement with Improve The Dream has allowed her to testify before the House Judiciary Committee to share her personal story of what it means to be a Documented Dreamer. In addition to being an immigration advocate, Pareen is a recent graduate of the University of Iowa, majoring in biomedical engineering.
Pareen was born in India but moved to the United States at a young age. At the time, both of her parents were students at the University of Iowa and later went on to work for the University. They were given work visas that were sponsored by the University, which allowed Pareen to stay on a dependent visa. However, after Pareen turned 21, she aged out of the system and would face the issue of potentially going back to India. During that time, Pareen was on a tourist visa. When Pareen heard about Improve The Dream, she became involved with the organization and saw how there were people who could relate to her story. In 2021, Pareen testified before the House Judiciary Committee to talk about her journey where she had to narrow her and other people’s stories in five minutes. After her testimony, Pareen received her student visa. Since being involved in immigration advocacy, she had support from the University of Iowa community to further discuss the conversation about immigration reform as well as her story being featured in multiple news outlets such as ABC News, Fox News, NBC News, and more.
In this episode, you will hear:
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If you want to follow Pareen Mhatre, be sure to follow her on Instagram @pareenmhatre and Improve The Dream @improvethedream!
You can also check out Pareen’s website as well as Improve The Dream:
Personal Website:http://www.pareenmhatre.com/
Improve The Dream: https://www.improvethedream.org/
