Co-founder and president of The Arizona Dream Act Coalition, Dulce Matuz is fighting for generations of young immigrants to have a path toward US citizenship. Ms. Matuz’s family brought her to the United States when she was a child, and she stepped out as an advocate for immigrant rights when Arizona’s proposition 300 began requiring undocumented youth to pay out-of-state tuition for college. (Her tuition in Arizona – what she calls “the Ground Zero for Immigration” – jumped from $2,500 per semester to $8,500 making the completion of her engineering degree impossible.)
“Dulce promotes a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who, like her, were brought to the U.S. before they were 16, attend college or serve in the military, and are of good moral character,” said actress Eva Longoria who wrote Matuz’s entry in TIME. “Dulce takes on powerful opponents with grace and conviction, saying, ‘We are Americans, and Americans don't give up.’”
