For many years now, being an entrepreneur is nothing new to many families, especially for the Hispanic/Latino community.
We see it every day. From the guy selling ice cream, to the elotero (corn seller) to a more modern business look: food trucks.
And there's a mass increase of Hispanic-owned businesses on the rise here in Arizona.
“The Latino business community is actually the fastest growing segment of economy in the country right now,” said James Garcia, the director of communications for the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
In fact, James says that since 2007, Hispanic-owned businesses have doubled and Latina-owned have tripled to an estimated 66,000 in Arizona.
Within that group, some of those Latina women are Dreamers.
“One-third of all businesses owned by Latinos in the state of Arizona are owned by immigrants," said Garcia.
What's interesting is that the increase in Hispanic entrepreneurs began when the Great Recession was happening, which began in the late 2000's.
“So, you would have thought, big challenges. Because of the recession, people would not be starting a business,” said Garcia.
The recession inspired many people and more in the coming years, including Dreamers Carla Chavarria and Maxima Guerrero, who own an apparel business called Ganaz.
“Ganaz is more than just a brand we put together, it's a symbol of our resiliency against and our political climate that we live in, especially in Arizona,” said Maxima, who co-founded of Ganaz.
DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) was created in 2012 under Barack Obama to allow people brought to the United States illegally as children to have temporary status for the right to live, study and work in America.
But with President Trump allowing DACA protection to expire later this year and Congress working to sort out a solution, many DACA recipients are looking for solutions.
“I'm figuring out how to go around my status and still make a living for myself,” Chavarria said.
There's a huge undocumented community in Arizona of people who currently own businesses, provide to the local economy and have truly been successful.
“If DACA is taken away, we can still have our business, still be successful in that way, but what DACA brings, however, is the safety of not being subject to deportation,” said Maxima.
Another option if DACA is definitely removed is to work through a program called E-Verify, which means you can't be an employee, but you