Allyson Duarte arrived in the United States when she was only 13 years of age and aimed at a professional soccer career. Unfortunately, she stumbled across a reality that would hit her hard: she had the talent, but she was undocumented.
Duarte was talented and could play almost any position in high school. She thought those abilities alone would get her into any soccer school, but she realized those schools sometimes flew to away matches, and since she did not have an ID, she would not be able to fly with them.
In 2012, Barack Obama created the DACA program which allowed her to get a work permit and fly, but her opportunity to play soccer had already passed. She was recently in Washington D.C. along with 1,000 other Dreamers to ask Congress for a Dream Act that will protect nearly 800,000 DACA recipients.
She loved playing soccer as a child in Veracruz, Mexico, but Veracruz did not offer real opportunities for female soccer players. Duarte realized she had to go to the United States to play for a big team, and her father, who was already in the U.S., arranged everything for her, her mother and brother to arrive in McAllen, Texas.
Three days after her arrival, she started 7th grade and quickly learned English. Duarte got into a local girls soccer team where all the girls were white and struggled to bond with them, with one asking her if she was a citizen, to which she replied that she was a resident.
Later on, she started her sophomore year and noticed the college coaches were interested in her, but they explained their schools did not give full scholarships to female soccer players, and since she was undocumented, she would not be able to fly. “Since I couldn’t play soccer I went into a deep depression,” she said. “So I just walked away.”
Her love for soccer disappeared, and she found a new passion. Duarte loves philosophy and especially the work of John Rawls, Gloria Evangelina Anzaldùa, and Enrique Domingo Dussel.
Her dream changed, and now she wants to get into a good college. Her goal, however, could be stopped again, as her work permit expires soon, and if DACA gets canceled, she could get deported to Mexico.
This article was inspired by The Guardian // She could have been a top US soccer player. Problem was, she was undocumented