PRI’s The World, News Report, Jason Margolis
Pictured above: Mexican-born Sujey Romoero, who was able to become a US citizen because of the 1986 immigration overhaul in Congress, worries about immigrant families today if the DREAM Act were to pass. Photo by Jason Margolis.
The chances for a comprehensive immigration reform bill passing Congress are looking increasingly dim.
The Senate passed its bill last summer. But House Republicans are pushing a piecemeal approach in the lower chamber. Some young, unauthorized immigrants could personally benefit from this strategy, but many are conflicted about whether that’s a good thing.
If there’s one thing many conservatives and liberals agree on when it comes to unauthorized immigrants, it’s that people like 18-year-old Susana shouldn’t be kicked out of the United States. She’s been a good student, never had trouble with the law, and is now attending college in Denver.
“I came here when I was about 3. I don’t remember anything about Mexico, I don’t remember living there, I don’t remember coming here. Most of my memories, childhood memories, are of me being here,” she says.
Susana (who asked us not to use her last name) is one of perhaps 1.9 million so-called DREAMers in the US — young people brought here illegally as children.
After years of fighting for recognition, they won big last year when an executive order from President Barack Obama created a new program called DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) that protected some of them from deportation. They’re still not eligible to become citizens, though.
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