MEGAN
JANETSKY

Maria Socorro Leon Pena, 20, is one of Arizona's 27,865 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients. She was brought to the United States when she was five by her mom, Haidee Pena Castillo. Haidee is a single mother of three and an undocumented immigrant. Maria and her mother chat in the kitchen of their Paradise Valley trailer home as her two younger brothers play.

Maria tells her story as an undocumented immigrant and DACA recipient to a conference room full of people.

Maria, a leader at her local YoungLife chapter, a Christian youth organization, speaks to her group about how DACA has impacted her life, wearing a shirt reading "IN-STATE 4 DACA" on Sept. 21, 2017. "Go to school, work, be a YoungLife leader, serve, volunteer, go to church — it [DACA] gave me this freedom where I didn't have to be afraid."

Throngs of people walk in and out of the Pena's trailer home patio for her mom's birthday party on Nov. 25, 2017 in Paradise Valley, Arizona. The event was supposed to be small, but neighbors began bringing food, drinks, piles of present and a bouncy castle to the party."My mom is very friendly," Maria said. "If people are having a party, she will cook for them for free. It's a close neighborhood. When my mom got sick and she was in the psychiatric hospital, they raised up money and gave it to me. Ever since we got here, we've been really welcomed."

Maria tells her story about her life as an undocumented immigrant and DACA recipient to a conference room of people at her school, Paradise Valley Community College on Sept. 27, 2017. She began advocating and speaking about her life as an undocumented immigrant after President Donald Trump announced the end to the DACA program earlier that year, plunging Maria and other recipients into a realm of uncertainty.

Maria packed into a bus with ten DACA recipients to drive 80 hours round-trip across the country to push Congress to fix the program Trump ended. The group traveling from Arizona meets with another group of recipients leaving the Capitol after a week of telling their stories in an Arkansas parking lot on Dec. 2, 2017.

Susana Nava, 30, laughs at her phone as the group of DACA recipients and advocates enter Arizona on 40 hour drive back from Washington D.C. on Dec. 10, 2017. Many of the recipients traveling got on the bus skeptical, not knowing anyone else on the trip, but left tied by a common experience.

Maria curls her eyelashes and does makeup before speaking to members of Congress on Dec. 8, 2018 in Washington D.C.

Maxima Guerrero, a 27-year-old DACA recipient, tries to lift the spirits of a disheartened group of 'Dreamers' and advocates after a hard meeting with a U.S. Representative on Dec. 6, 2017 in the basement of the Longworth House Office Building. The immigrants were met with mixed reactions by lawmakers, some stopping to hear their stories while others breezed by, pretending they didn't exist.

Maria jogs with a Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Co.) on his way to a vote on Dec. 5, 2017 outside the U.S. Capitol building.

Hours before leaving for a 40 hour drive back to Arizona, Maria sits alone on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, filming a video of herself asking people to donate so more DACA recipients can tell their stories on Dec. 8, 2017.