My life in the shadows: by Reyna Wences, 19: brought to the U.S. illegally from Mexico as a child, Wences has stepped forward to make the case for immigration reform.

• Author: Wences, Reyna
• Position: VOICES

I'll never forget the day I left Mexico for the last time. I was nine, and my mother, three-year-old brother, and I abandoned our apartment in Mexico City. We boarded a bus heading north to the border city of Nogales to meet up with a "coyote"--a guide who helps smuggle people into the United States.

We had paid the coyote $6,000, borrowing most of the money from relatives. All we could take with us that morning in July 2000 was a small bag with a change of clothes and water. The sun was hot, and I remember praying we wouldn't have to travel through the desert, where temperatures can reach 120[degrees]F and many people die from dehydration.

To my surprise, getting across the border and to our final destination proved uneventful: We didn't see any guards and just walked into Arizona, to a city also called Nogales. From there, a driver hired by the coyote took us to Chicago to join my stepfather, an engineer who had entered the U.S. a year earlier on a three-month work visa but stayed after the visa expired.

Even as a young girl, I understood why he chose to remain in the U.S. illegally, and why my mother wanted us to join him: In Mexico, my parents often had to choose between paying the rent and buying food. Like most immigrants, they came to the U.S. seeking a better life for their family.

No Social Security Number

But growing up undocumented has meant living in limbo, with opportunities only half open to me. I was fortunate to have gone to Walter Payton College Prep school in Chicago, and I got into several top-tier colleges. But without a Social Security number, I was ineligible for the financial aid I needed to be able to go to many of them.

I'm likely to be in a similar situation in the working world because without a Social Security number, employers can't legally hire me. So although I'm now a freshman at the University of Illinois at Chicago studying sociology, I may never be able to work in my field. Without legal status, I'll have no better options than my stepfather, who fixes factory...