Photography and reporting by RAPHAEL ALVES in Manaus,
Brazil.
Lupe Salmeron's
coming graduation from Edgewood College in her hometown of Madison,
Wisconsin, was set to make her first in her family to obtain a degree.
Family in Mexico would fly in to celebrate. And with a spring internship in
Washington, D.C., she was poised to snag a full-time job in American
politics.
COVID-19 dismantled it all. When both her congressman’s office and the
restaurant where she worked part time were shuttered in March, Lupe, an
undocumented immigrant who came to the United States at age six, returned
to Madison. For a time, she worked as a credit union teller to help defray
the steep tuition that noncitizens like her must pay. And then she
contracted COVID-19 herself.
After isolating with mild symptoms, she returned to her job before joining
the staff of a local nonprofit that helps Latinx youth prepare for college.
While helping others achieve their goals, she keeps sight of her own. “If
more people in my generation get into politics, we can reflect on how the
system is broken,” she says, “and focus on what we want to change.”