Immigrant of the Day: Lisbeth Mateo (Mexico)

Our Immigrant of the Day is Lisbeth Mateo, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who is an immigration attorney in California.

Mateo grew up in a small town in the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico, in which few women went to college. She was 14 when her parents decided to risk a border crossing in pursuit of greater opportunity for Mateo and her two brothers. Mateo has many relatives in California, some of them here legally.

Mateo went to Venice High School in Venice, a city in the sprawling Los Angeles area and struggled with English.  After attending Santa Monica Community College, she earned a degree at Cal State University, Northridge.  She linked up with other undocumented students to lobby for the Dream Act, which would have provided a pathway to citizenship for undocumented youths who were brought to the U.S. as children.  In 2013, Mateo and eight other activists — they were known as the Dream 9 — made headlines by traveling south of the border and then coming back north to protest immigration policy and deportations during the Obama administration. Some immigration reform activists cheered, while others feared the tactic could sabotage the chances of reform. Mateo and the others were arrested and Mateo was locked up for two weeks before being released.

Mateo next started law school at Santa Clara University.  She got her law degree, passed the bar (undocumented immigrants can be licensed to practice law in California), she worked at a nonprofit defending immigrant victims of wage theft, and she opened her own law office in Wilmington two years ago.  The U.S. government found Mateo ineligible for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and she remain undocumented.

Steve Lopez profiled Lisbeth Mateo for the Los Angeles Times.

KJ