HOUSTON – Positive news for thousands of immigrant families in the Houston area. Many are excited about the new possible pathway to citizenship but many are also cautiously optimistic.
“It boosts my emotions a lot because, at the end of the day, it’s exciting you’re able to say, ‘Hey, I’m from here now officially. What’s good you know?’” said DACA recipient, Adan Fuentes Miguel.
Miguel’s parents brought him to the U.S. when he was just a year old. He said he grew up in Houston and played sports in school. He’s now studying mechanical engineering at the University of Houston.
“I’m in college, I work too,” Miguel said.
It’s all been possible because of DACA, the deferred action for childhood arrivals program. But with DACA, there’s also no pathway to legal status or citizenship. Miguel is hoping the Biden administration can come up with a plan and get it passed.
“I get excited because I’d no longer have to stress I wouldn’t have to stress this is my time frame, what am I going to do?” Miguel said.
DACA recipient Josue Rodriguez has had to put off law school because of the uncertainty. He thinks Biden’s new plan can help millions of families have more stability.
“It’s really a move to recognize that Dreamers and others have been part of the United States community for such a long time,” Rodriguez said.
President-elect Joe Biden is expected to unveil a new immigration plan on Wednesday, which would allow millions of qualifying immigrants a pathway to a green card and then citizenship. But Cesar Espinosa, the executive director of FIEL Houston, said families should be cautiously optimistic.
“Folks don’t want to get their hopes up too high because time and time again by not only the Trump administration but by the Obama administration, we’ve been let down. All we’re asking is to really sit down and have an open conversation about fixing our broken immigration system,” Espinosa said.
FIEL Houston will have a virtual watch party of the inauguration and Joe Biden’s speech Wednesday beginning at 8 a.m..
For more information about FIEL and the watch party, click here: www.fielhouston.org