Nelson bio

When Nelson Melgan turned 13, his family made the
difficult decision to leave their home and fledgling
coffee business in Honduras.

His family was poor and their country offered no
opportunities for a better, safer life. Nelson and his
family arrived to United States in 2003 and have made
it their home.

During his young life in Honduras, Melgar had
no choice but to work hard at the family coffee
business, leaving little time for school.

When he enter to middle school in USA his
counselor told im he was very behind and
would have a difficult time catching up.

His counselor failed to realize that Nelson did
not had a proper education in Honduras, that
ability to actually go to school now gave a
higher inspiration to do well in school.

“So even though I knew absolutely no
English when I came to this country, within a
year or so I had already completed the four
ESL programs,” Melgar said proudly. By 10th
grade, Melgar was taking honors classes and
was enrolled in Advanced Placement classes
the year after.

Melgar’s high school principal encouraged
him to apply to several universities,
offering to write letters of
recommendation for him. But at this time,
Melgar was still undocumented and
ineligible for financial aid or student loans.
So he attended Nassau Community
College and Hunter College, studying
political science and international
relations, paying his tuition by taking
semesters off to work.

“I had to get a job, and that
was the only way I could pay
for my education. In fact, at
times I had to work 20 hours a
day, six days a week in order to
be able to make enough money
for the next semester. I would,
you know, take a semester off
work, then I would go to school
the next semester,” said
Melgar. “But looking back at it
now, I am pleased that it
happened that way because I
know that I owe nothing, I owe
nobody anything…I’m a free
man.”

While in school, Melgar became very
involved in immigration activism.
During that time, President Obama
introduced DACA program, which
Melgar applied for and was accepted.
DACA gives immigrant youth
temporary work authorization, as well
as the ability to obtain a driver’s
license.

It was also during this time that Melgar
came to work for New York State
Assemblyman Charles Lavine. “So
eventually I was invited to a particular
event where they were speaking about
migrant children and how their story
relates to the story of Holocaust
survivors.”

His Central American immigration
experience piqued the interest of a few
people in the crowd, and they contacted
Assemblyman Charles Lavine. “The next
thing you know I was working for him!”
exclaimed Melgar.

Melgar realizes that if he had stayed in
Honduras, his life would have been very
different. “Had we stayed in Honduras, it is
very possible that I would not have a future.
It is very possible I would have turned to
violence. And I say that because you know
it’s not something that we choose,”

he explained. “You will often hear people
[saying] ‘Well why don’t you try to go back
to your country and try to fix it?’ and my
response to that is, ‘We would if we could’.”

At age 26, Melgar is already a success story, and he
attributes that to his cultural values of honesty and integrity,
values that his father instilled in him from an early age. He
also credits his hard work in his family’s coffee business for
the ability to recognize an opportunity and make the most of
it.