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Standing on the steps of the Academic Building on the Texas A&M campus, undocumented immigrant Cinthia Cruz told a crowd of demonstrators how difficult it is to hear fellow Aggies equate being undocumented to being dishonest or criminal.

"I didn't have a choice," Cruz said Monday. "When my family was about to cross the border, I got separated from my mother. As a 10-year-old woman, I was forced to cross the border by myself. That's not something a child should go through."

In the last 11 years, Cruz has come to call the U.S. home. She has held various internship positions because of an executive order by President Barack Obama that grants temporary work permits to undocumented residents who meet certain criteria. Despite this, she said, she faces the threat of deportation in a matter of months.

"My hopes, my dreams might be taken away from me by people who don't understand what it's like to be undocumented," Cruz said.

Monday's demonstration was organized by the student-led Council for Minority Student Affairs, which is calling for administrators to declare Texas A&M a "sanctuary campus."