Luis and his family were living in an area of Mexico where drug cartels routinely killed and harassed people. After being threatened and extorted, he and his family fled to the United States in fear for their lives. Luis was about 8 years old at the time.
In 2012, Luis heard about a federal program that granted temporary relief from deportation to certain immigrants, often called DREAMers, who had come to the United States as children. The program is Deffered Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Luis worked painting hotels to save up to pay filing and other fees. Shortly afterward, he was detained by ICE . While in detention he met an AI Justice attorney who immediately identified him as DACA eligible and filed his application. Luis, age 17, was then quickly released and reunited with his family.