Meet the 28-Year-Old Who's Responding to Trump

From Cosmopolitan

Astrid Silva is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico living in the United States. The DREAMer and immigration activist is also giving a televised rebuttal to President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night.

Silva made a national name for herself after she spoke at the Democratic National Convention in 2016. And now, she's making history, giving the first-ever Spanish-language rebuttal to a president's address. “President Trump would have people believe that all immigrants are criminals and that refugees are terrorists," she said in a statement. "But like my family, the vast majority of immigrants and refugees came to this country escaping poverty and conflict, looking for a better life and the opportunity to reach the American Dream."

Here are eight things to know about Silva:

Smugglers brought her to the U.S. in 1992 when she was 4 years old.

Silva's father came to the United States in 1989 and worked on a golf course for three years before sending for Silva and her mom in Mexico, according to Fusion. Silva was 4 years old as the smugglers put her and her mother on a homemade tire raft and pulled them across the Rio Grande. "Her only possession were a cross, her doll, and the frilly dress she had on," President Obama said of Silva in a 2014 speech about immigration reform.

She was raised in Nevada and became an outstanding student.

When Silva's father tried to obtain legal residency in the 1990s, he instead received a deportation order, according to Fusion. But he stayed in the country, working as a landscaper. Her mom cleaned houses. Silva learned English on the playground as well as from PBS and newspapers, according to President Obama. She became student of the year in her middle school and graduated near the top of her high school class, the Los Angeles Times reported.

After high school, the fear of deportation stifled Silva.

Undocumented children, according to the L.A. Times, can go to school and receive basic services, but once they become adults, their options are severely limited. So Silva, who wanted to be an architect, instead babysat for a living and attended community college, where she earned two associate's degrees. She didn't drive because she couldn't get a driver's license, and when her friends asked her to go out, she usually declined because she didn't have an ID.

One unfortunate event changed everything for Silva.

When her grandmother - who visited the U.S. every year - died in 2009, neither Silva nor her parents could leave the country to attend the funeral, according to USA Today. This was the first time Silva had ever seen her father cry. So, the L.A. Times said, Silva decided to act.

Silva passed a note to a very powerful man who paid attention.

During a 2009 rally for Sen. Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat who was then the Senate majority leader, Silva handed him a handwritten note. "The words, written in her girlish hand, spilled out in a cathartic flow, a release of all the sadness and disappointment - and lingering hope - that had piled up inside the 21-year-old as she came to understand the netherworld she was caught in," the L.A. Times' Lisa Mascaro wrote.

More notes followed. "My future along with the rest of those in my situation relies on what you can do for us," one note said, according to the L.A. Times. Soon, it led to a friendship between Silva and Reid. Eventually, Silva was speaking at Reid events and volunteering for his campaign.

She's considered a DREAMer.

The DREAM Act is a piece of legislation, supported by Democrats, which would in part give the children of undocumented immigrants certain rights and benefits. To be considered a "DREAMer," a person must currently be under the age of 35, have entered the country before the age of 16, and remained here continuously for five years. They're often referred to as young people who "know only the U.S. as their homeland," according to The Hill. Although the bill has been introduced to Congress several times, it has failed to pass.

She's now working for an organization fighting for social and environmental causes - and campaigning for Hillary Clinton.

Silva received a work permit under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program the Obama administration introduced in 2012 for undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children, according to CBS Philadelphia. She now works as the organizing director at the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (and has a driver's permit). And she's the founder of a group called Dream Big Vegas, which fight for comprehensive immigration reform.

Her DNC speech was personal, and scathing against Trump.

Silva told her personal story during a speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2016. "When Donald Trump talks about deporting 11 million people, he's talking about ripping families apart, separating families like mine," she said. "Hillary Clinton understands that is not who we are as a country." Now that Trump is in the Oval Office, it's safe to say she won't mince words this time, either.

This post was originally published before the Democratic National Convention and has been updated.

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