When Alexander Vallejos crosses the stage next May to receive his computer science degree from the University of Central Florida, the moment will carry a weight far beyond academic achievement. For the 26-year-old raised in South Florida, it will represent a triumph against overwhelming odds — a testament to his status as a “Dreamer” who knows just how narrowly he escaped losing everything.
Brought to Palm Beach County from Argentina by his parents when he was an infant, Vallejos grew up as a Dreamer — an undocumented immigrant protected from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, created under former President Obama in 2012.
His parents instilled in him a belief that unrelenting hard work and academic excellence were the keys to unlocking the American Dream.
Vallejos built a strong academic resume: a perfect 4.0 GPA, late-night study marathons, leadership roles in campus clubs and competitive internships. His education was made possible through a scholarship from TheDream.US, a national organization dedicated to providing high-achieving Dreamers access to higher education.
"When I think of a Dreamer, I think of someone who grew up in this country, this state, calling it their home," Vallejos said. "And just like everyone else, they have hopes and dreams of making it, but the only thing that separates them from everyone else is a piece of paper that they have no control over."
The academic path he was on unraveled in February 2025. After being pulled over while driving in Orlando, Vallejos was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It's unclear why he was detained; ICE did not respond to WLRN's request for comment.
What followed was an agonizing two-month detention across multiple facilities, including the Krome Detention Center in Miami-Dade — where he endured severe overcrowding and hunger, losing 30 pounds — before being transferred to Broward County and Arizona. He was eventually released to his family.
Immigrant advocates say Vallejos' story of being a Dreamer and a detainee illustrates the potential damaging fallout of Trump administration’s deportation agenda. This, coupled with Florida’s decision to bar undocumented immigrants from attending college, they say, creates major barriers for a generation of young immigrants.
" When we deny a young person access to higher education, the harm does not stop with that student. It affects their family, their neighborhoods, and our entire state," said Alexandra Orellana, of the Florida Immigrant Coalition. "These are future teachers, nurses, entrepreneurs, advocates and community leaders who want the opportunity to learn, contribute and build their lives here."
Before being detained by ICE, said Vallejos, "all I knew was just I had to work hard. I needed to study all the time."
“ Now I'm living scared,” Vallejos told WLRN. “I don't feel like a person… the torture doesn't stop when you get out.”
READ MORE: Florida Board of Education votes to ban undocumented students from attending public colleges
When he was one year old, Vallejos’ parents brought him from Argentina to Palm Beach County, where he and his brother grew up. He has been protected from deportation as a DACA recipient.
“I had always felt like, ‘Hey, I don’t really understand politics,’” Vallejos said, “‘but so long as my DACA stays active, like, I should be good, right?’”
Vallejos said he has always been grateful for the sacrifices his parents made and believed academic achievement would be the key to unlocking success.
He is one of 60,000 undocumented students attending a higher education institution in Florida, according to the Higher Ed Immigration Portal. The data center also estimates 8,000 undocumented students graduate from high schools statewide each year.
But undocumented high schoolers belonging to the Class of 2027 are the first being barred from being allowed to attend college or university. Starting in the 2027-28 school year, Florida colleges and universities will not admit students unless they are legal residents of the United States, the Florida Board of Governors ruled on Sept. 4. Made up of 17 members, sets the rules of operation, regulation and control for the State University System of Florida.
Vallejos said it aches him to think of all the students, just like him, whose dreams and goals of going to college have been severed.
“ I can't imagine if I look back at myself and [someone] told me like, ‘Hey, actually you can't even go to college. You can't do anything.’ I would be lost,” Vallejos said. “I don't know what I would do then.”
‘I wish people knew how bad it is’
Police pulled Vallejos over while driving alone in Orlando one night in February 2025. A couple of days later, ICE took him into custody. It's unclear what led ICE officials to detain him because his DACA status allows him to be in the country legally.
He was transferred to Krome Detention Center in Miami-Dade, where he spent a couple of weeks. That’s when he was subjected to what he describe as “ psychological torture.”
“For two weeks you're just sitting in a small, tiny room [with] 40 people,” he said, “where you're shoulder to shoulder, sleeping on floors. And they also just don't really feed you or give you anything, and you're just waiting to be processed, to know what's going to happen.”
He and the other detainees went hungry often. He remembers others banging on walls and windows as they cried out for food and water.
“ Those weeks in Miami, I lost like 30 pounds,” Vallejos said. “I wish people knew how bad it is.”
He was transferred, again, to a facility in Broward County. After a couple of days, he was moved to Arizona. After being released, he reunited with his family in their South Florida home.
“ I remember the first day after being released, I went straight to my parents' house in West Palm [Beach]," Vallejos said. "The first thing I did was, I asked my brother, 'Where's your laptop? I need to find out how am I going to finish school now, I need to find out what's going on, I need to find out what my game plan is.'”
Being locked up left him traumatized, he said.
“ I was usually the guy who would set up all the study groups and would push everyone to study,” he said. “But when I came back, I felt like a scared, hurt puppy. And I did feel like an animal on a leash because of the ankle monitor.”
Florida breaks promise to undocumented students
Immigrant advocates say the Board of Governors' vote to ban undocumented students represents a major shift in Florida’s attitudes towards immigrants.
Twelve years ago, Florida passed a law allowing undocumented college students who went to high school in the state to pay in-state tuition rates for their college education. It was supported by then-governor Rick Scott, a Republican.
"I want students that grow up in our state to have the same chance to live the American dream that we all have for ourselves and our kids," Scott said at the time.
Jeanette M. Nuñez, who was a state representative when the law passed in 2014, supported the legislation. She is now president of Florida International University.
"They're staying here. They can work and become productive citizens [under DACA]," Nuñez said at the time.
Nuñez has since changed her view, saying she thought the 2014 law had "served its purpose and run its course" and that the country "looks very different today than it did then."
Vallejos and immigrant advocates say the future of Dreamers is now uncertain at best.
“ When I think of a Dreamer, I think of someone who grew up in this country, this state, calling it their home,” Vallejos said. “And just like everyone else, they have hopes and dreams of making it but the only thing that separates them from everyone else is a piece of paper that they have no control over.”
Vallejos was able to make his college career happen thanks to a scholarship from TheDream.US, an organization a nonprofit dedicated to helping Dreamers access higher education through scholarships. Since 2013, it has awarded more than 1,600 scholarships to Florida Dreamers, according to Gabby Pacheco, president and CEO of TheDream.US.
Pacheco is a Miami-Dade College graduate who led a nationwide movement to allow undocumented students to go to college.
“ A lot of our earlier students had DACA and so today we have many of those students working in our classrooms. We have them working in our hospitals,” Pacheco told reporters last month at a virtual press conference. “This is the workforce that Florida needs. This is what happens when you allow a group of people to able to have access to education. And our Florida graduates are working to make Florida better.”
State Rep. Anna Eskamani, a Democrat representing Winter Park in Central Florida, worries about what the college ban will mean for Florida’s future.
“ It's unfathomable to me that we would want to restrict top talent from contributing to our society,” she told WLRN in an interview. “Florida has some major economic needs right now in the context of our workforce challenges… We're going to feel the impact of that five, 10 years from now if we don't course-correct.”
Vallejos works on Eskamani’s campaign team. The two met when the state legislator visited UCF and Vallejos approached her to tell her what happened to him. “ I have been so inspired by his bravery,” she said.
“ We are saying no to top talent students, not based on merit, but based on their origin,” Eskamani said. “And in a state that has branded itself as being anti-DEI and being a meritocracy, this is one of the worst examples of that because you are basically telling these students that because of their identity, they are not welcome. I thought we weren't going to be determining students' acceptance or rejection based on identity, and yet that's exactly what the BOG has done.”
Those who support the ban, including Gov. Ron DeSantis and administration officials, say state tax dollars should prioritize legal U.S. residents and citizens.
"Taxpayers built these campuses," Florida Commissioner of Education Henry Mack wrote on X. "They are not a prize for unlawful presence."
The Florida Department of Education declined WLRNs request to interview Mack.
"Florida taxpayers should not be expected to subsidize opportunities for people who broke our laws to come here," wrote Lt. Gov. Jay Collins on X. "I will never apologize for putting Florida and American citizens first. That’s common sense. And that’s the Florida way."
In Washington, the House is one vote away from forcing a full vote on the American Dream and Promise Act (H.R. 1589), which would create a path for permanent residency status for certain groups of undocumented immigrants, including DACA recipients. It faces a difficult challenge in the Senate.
Back to school — and life
As much as Vallejos wants to pull himself by the boot straps and get back to the American Dream, the “beyond life-changing” experience as an immigrant detainee still reverberates in his life. He’s in therapy trying to heal emotionally and mentally.
He also wants to help Dreamers affected by the ban achieve their dreams. “I know that I can overcome anything now and I can use that to help others," he said.
Vallejos is moving forward.
“ I think walking across that stage to get my degree means a lot more now,” Vallejos said. “I know what it took to get here. I envision that all the time, me on the stage coming down to hug my mom and dad and saying, ‘I made it.’”
