DACA recipient's journey to graduation at Fresno State

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Fresno State student Nancy Barragan is so close to graduation. The public relations major worked tirelessly and then some to get to this point. Six sashes and a cord decorate her gown, along with the perfect accessory, dedicated to her parent's sacrifices.

Barragan is undocumented -- she's protected by DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), an Obama-era immigration policy that allows people brought to the United States illegally as children to receive a two-year period of deferred action from deportation.

Her parents migrated to the U.S. from Mexico when she was three-months-old.

"This is celebrating years of hard work and success, but it is not just my success, it is the success of my parents, we did this together."

Fresno has been their home ever since and the only life the 22-year-old has ever known.

Barragan said, "I feel like I had a pretty normal childhood, I grew up like anybody else my age."

In high school that changed, Barragan's parents told her she was undocumented.

"It was really confusing and I felt alone at the time because there was no one to guide me, there isn't really a handbook for this."

But where there's a will there's a way, Barragan attended community college, then transferred to Fresno State. When President Trump took office, things changed again, talks about getting rid of the DACA made her feel insecure.

"I don't know, it is really hard, a lot of things that have been said, I try to push it aside sometimes, but no matter how strong you think you are, it still gets to you."

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With the support of her parents, Barragan is able to push through.

"Every time I doubt myself I just hear my mom's voice saying, 'just keep going mija (my daughter), you can do this'."

After graduation, Barragan is not sure what will happen, but she is optimistic about the future.