App Shows What It's Like to Be Undocumented Griselda Nevarez - VOXXI
go to original November 24, 2013

(From left to right) Josh Wiseman, Celso Mireles, Erick Garcia, Carlos Vargas and Grace Lee are part of team Undoculife. Their app placed first in the storytelling category during the hackathon hosted by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s advocacy group FWD.us. (Facebook/Grace Lee)

When Erick Garcia first talked to VOXXI two weeks ago about participating in a hackathon hosted by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s advocacy group FWD.us, he confessed he was nervous.

But his level of nervousness rose to a whole new level last week moments before he and his team, dubbed Undoculife, found out their app was declared the winner of the storytelling category in the 25-hour hackathon.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Garcia, a 27-year-old Dreamer who holds a computer systems engineering degree from Arizona State University.

The app creates a virtual world where users are put through real-life scenarios that undocumented immigrants confront in their daily lives. They are asked to make decisions and are able to see the consequences that result from their decisions.

For instance, Garcia explained that one of the scenarios involves an undocumented man who must decide whether to attend his daughter’s recital after work or agree to his boss’s request to stay to work longer without getting paid overtime. That scenario is meant to highlight the unfair treatment undocumented immigrants face in the workplace, as well as show undocumented immigrants how they can stand up for their rights.

Read the rest at VOXXI

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