At the State of the Union address in 2014, immigration activist and DREAMer Cristian Avila sat in the House of Representatives gallery as a guest of First Lady Michelle Obama. At the time of President Obama’s speech, Avila, who came to the US as a young child, had completed a weeks-long fast on the National Mall as part of his work with Mi Familia Vota, an advocacy group which supports immigration reform.
At the time of President Obama’s speech, Avila, who came to the US as a young child, had completed a weeks-long fast on the National Mall as part of his work with Mi Familia Vota, an advocacy group which supports immigration reform.
The 23-year-old heard the President say last January, “Let’s get immigration reform done this year.” Avila believed in it.
Instead, last year’s immigration reform was marked by Congressional gridlock and later, in November, Obama’s announcement of sweeping executive actions seeking to shield millions from deportation.
The president’s decision to act on his own on immigration set forth a new, defiant tone, which he showed during last week’s State of the Union on Tuesday, Jan. 20. Rather than imploring on the new Republican-led Congress to work with him, Obama urged the legislators to stop fighting him against it.
“[We can’t keep] refighting past battles on immigration, when we’ve got a system to fix. If a bill comes to my desk that tries to do any of these things,” Obama firmly reassured during the speech, “it will earn my veto.”
It was less a call for teamwork than an earnest request for Congress to cease their efforts to stop Obama’s executive orders, which would extend protection to DREAMers like Avila—who qualify for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program—as well as the parents of US citizens and legal permanent residents.
“Passions still fly on immigration, but surely we can all see something of ourselves in the striving young student, and agree that no one benefits when a hardworking mom is taken from her child, and that it’s possible to shape a law that upholds our tradition as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants,” Obama said.
This year, Avila watched the State of the Union from 2,000 miles away in Phoenix, Ariz., with other hopeful undocumented immigrants who are eligible to apply for Obama’s executive proposals.
However, Avila noted, some of them were nervous to apply given recent Republican efforts to end the immigration policies, such as protection for parents.
Avila said he was “happy to hear the President’s promise to veto any legislation that would threaten his executive actions.”
“We expected him to be firm on his decision, and we’re glad he came through,” he said. “He’s still behind us.”
This year, 21-year-old DREAMer Ann Zamora was one of the First Lady’s guests, along with other undocumented immigrants who were guests of congressional leaders.
Zamora, who came to the US from Mexico when she was just a year old, had been approved for DACA in 2012, and sent Obama a letter thanking him for launching the program when she was invited to attend the big speech. Since she has two younger siblings who were born in Dallas, Ann’s parents can apply for protection under Obama’s new executive actions and, if things go well, eventually work legally.
In a White House interview, Ann, who is finishing up her last semester at Northwood University in Texas, said she was happy about the progress on immigration reform being made so far. But she still wants a more permanent solution.
“I feel like I’m an asset to the United States, and I want to continue to be an asset,” she said. “In order for me to be completely productive, a way to residency [is] the answer.”
“It would be devastating if Congress succeeded in ending DACA,” said 24-year-old Italia Garcia, a DREAMer working for Mi Familia Vota who attended the speech. “I’ve been able to establish even essential things that a lot of us take for granted sometimes, like credit. All of that, it would just mean that all of a sudden I would go back to working under the table or living in the shadows, one way or another.”
Immigration activists believe there is still more lobbying to do, more words to be said, and more steps to take to fully convince Congress of approving a bill that would extend protections to all undocumented persons living in the shadows. Despite the opposition and President Obama’s resilience, DREAMers and advocates remain hopeful and outspoken about the country’s need for immigration reform.
“I have seen progress but I don’t want to be a lot more hopeful because it has been, in several ways, a disappointment not to see a comprehensive bill that protects all workers, all undocumented immigrants from deportation,” said 26-year-old DACA recipient Maria Torres, who attended last year’s State of the Union. “There is always more to be done.”
(With reports from Huffington Post)
