Essex Woman Hoping President's Immigration Plan Will Reunite Family
ESSEX, Md. (WJZ) -- Immigration overhaul. The president is set to unveil sweeping new policies. The plan could spare up to five million immigrants from the threat of deportation and make them eligible to work in the U.S.
Rochelle Ritchie spoke with one woman who says the president's immigration plan could reunite families that have been separated for years.
The woman you are about to meet has been in the United States for 11 years. It's been five years since she saw her older daughter, who lives in Mexico. Immigration laws have kept them apart for all this time. She is hopeful for a chance to see her again.
At her home in Essex, Albertina Oceguera, a Mexican immigrant, sits down with WJZ to express the elation she feels knowing President Obama's immigration plan could allow her to see her daughter, who lives in Mexico, after five years.
Related Story: President Obama To Unveil His Immigration Reform Plan
"She would have qualified under the DECA program, the deferred action program that the president announced, but she left four months before he made that announcement," Oceguera said.
Albertina says she came to the United States 11 years ago with her husband. She says gaining citizenship has been an endless task.
"I came to this country on a visa and I stayed here and ever since then there hasn't been a mechanism for me to do so," she said.
Like other immigrants across the country, Albertina says she will be glued to her television to see if the president's plan will speed up that process.
"For me and for so many families this will be an enormous opportunity because we've been fighting for this for so long and we've been working hard and contributing to this country," she said.
Organizations that have pushed immigration reform say this proposal is not the final solution, but it's a start.
"We're very happy that the president is coming out with a proposal that will legalize, hopefully, 5 million people. We know that's not 11 million people that need some sort of legalization in this country, but it's a big step in the right direction," said Lix Alex, Casa de Maryland.
Albertina's daughter graduated from nursing school in Mexico and hopes to come back to the United States to work.
Other Local News:
