deportation
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Students like Mejia, 18, could be eligible for relief under the DREAM Act.
A Virginia teenager scheduled to be deported just days after her high school graduation was granted a last-minute reprieve on Monday afternoon, according to the Washington Post.
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The country in which I could have had the chance to get ahead is the United States. I did everything I had to do to get that and I don’t understand why they wouldn’t let me … I feel more American than Honduran.”
- Marlon Roberto Cortes, a 20-year-old Honduran who was deported to his native country from Boston in March without being able to say goodbye to his family. -
Photo Credit: Shawn Rocco/Raleigh News & Observer
Jose Rico, center, and Alicia Torres-Don, left, listen to Alicia’s brother Jose Torres-Don, right, during a planning meeting of the N.C. Dream Team in Raleigh on Friday. The organization composed of undocumented immigrant youth and their allies was drafting a response to President Barack Obama’s announcement that the U.S. would stop deporting some young illegal immigrants who were brought into the country as children. Rico and his fellow team members were skeptical. “We’re not going to believe the president until we see it happen,” he said. “We’ve been down this road before.”
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State Sen. David Schapira (D-Tempe) was interviewed by 12News at Tempe High School on Friday about Obama’s DREAM directive. He posted this photo on his Facebook, and said:
After the interview, I met a young man named Alejandro, who was on his way home from summer school. He overheard the interview and told me that he and his brothers are undocumented. I explained what the president did today, and he began to grin ear-to-ear. The look of newfound hope on his face made me incredibly proud of our president and our country today.
Other lawmakers in the state were not in favor of the president’s new plan. Rep. David Schweikert (R) called it “backdoor amnesty.” He said in a press release:
“While President Obama asks the Department of Homeland Security to ‘look the other way,’ I ask him to respect the rule of law, and get back to focusing on putting 23 million unemployed Americans back to work.”
Va. high school grad granted last-minute reprieve from deportation
About The 12
The 12 is a group Tumblr of The Washington Post and student journalists in 12 battleground states documenting the 2012 presidential election and capturing perspectives of young voters.
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