Sabina Rodriguez has the world at her fingertips.

"I got accepted into St. John's, Cortland, Hunter," the Bayside High School senior said, listing some of the seven colleges and universities that accepted her so far.

What You Need To Know

  • Time may be winding down for President Joe Biden and like-minded lawmakers who say they want to create a pathway to citizenship for so-called dreamers

  • Several states are asking a federal court in Texas to declare the Obama era program unconstitutional

  • Biden shored up DACA, or Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals, on his first day in office after Trump tried to do away with it

  • A Brooklyn DACA recipient who co-founded a nonprofit to help students across the city says he's counting on this administration to deliver him citizenship because that just may help him deliver more laptops to economically disadvantage students

She used her new Chromebook and personal hotspot to apply and now uses them for her schoolwork.

Last year, though, she was stuck doing everything on her phone and a broken laptop.

"You would have to like zoom in on the screen and you'd be like, 'Damn, I can’t see anything on this phone,'" she said.

"She opened the door and she say, 'Mommy, the computer is not working,' and I say, 'What do you want me to do? I don't have job.  I’m on unemployment,'" said Arnovia Ulloa, Sabina's mother.

Both her parents lost their jobs during the pandemic.

At the start of the school year, though, her fortune changed.  She won a fellowship, which meant new gear and a mentorship from a new nonprofit organization called First Tech Fund.

"We cry, we cry when she win the computer," said Ulloa with a laugh.

First Tech Fund honored 52 students from all five boroughs.

In part, the nonprofit organizations exists only because of DACA, Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals, the program created by President Barack Obama to allow undocumented immigrants who came here as children, often called "Dreamers," to work and go to school legally.

"Having DACA allowed me to have the sense of security to start a nonprofit," said Josue De Paz, co-founder of the First Tech Fund.

De Paz came to the US from Mexico when he was five and knew what it was like to not have needed technology as a kid because of poverty. He saw the pandemic and distance learning amplify a digital divide for struggling families.

“I think the tech gap is rally rampant," he said. "This is just the beginning. I want to continue serving the students in this community and more students nationwide."

"We've seen time and time again, particularly with the DACA program, what a positive impact it has had for our city and our community," said Bitta Mostofi, the commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs. 

Mostofi said DACA recipients are also on the front lines of the pandemic in health care, education and the service industry, and that they deserve a pathway to citizenship, as President Joe Biden is proposing to congress.

De Paz said now he’s stuck planning in two-year increments because that's how DACA awards work permits.

"Getting citizenship would totally just allow me to spread my wings," he said.

It would also help him help more U.S. citizens like Sabina Rodriguez achieve their dreams.

"I want to be a forensic psychologist," she said.