Sense of security comes with immigration reform

Gloria Sanchez came to Modesto from Michoacán, Mexico, with her family when she was 14 years old. They were undocumented immigrants. Over the next 24 years, she graduated from high school, started her own family and opened a business cleaning houses.

But Sanchez, 38, said she never felt she truly belonged until Thursday when President Barack Obama announced he would take administrative action that would lift the fear of deportation for more than 4 million undocumented immigrants and let them get work permits.

“It’s an opportunity to come out of the shadows,” Sanchez said Friday afternoon during a news conference in the parking lot of Central Grace Hmong Alliance Church across the street from Modesto High School. “This is so important for me and my family and other families.”

Sanchez was among the more than two dozen people at the conference, which included officials from El Concilio, Council for the Spanish Speaking; labor groups; Mi Familia Vota; and Congregations Building Community, which helps marginalized communities throughout Stanislaus County.

Congregations Building Community Director Homero Mejia said there are about 40,000 undocumented immigrants in Stanislaus County, which has about 525,000 residents. He said it’s difficult to know how many of those immigrants will qualify for Obama’s administrative action.

The president’s actions primarily will help undocumented immigrants who have been in the United States for more than five years and whose children are here legally. These immigrants can seek relief from deportation and get work papers after undergoing background checks and paying fees.

The president also is expanding his 2012 program that defers deportation for some young undocumented immigrants.

Obama’s actions will apply to about 40 percent of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. Those who spoke at Friday’s news conference said Obama’s actions were a good first step but joined him in calling on Congress to undertake comprehensive immigration reform.

Sanchez said she is grateful that she and her husband will have the chance to get better jobs and provide a better future for their children. She plans on getting a Social Security card and a driver’s license. And she will no longer have to endure feelings of embarrassment and inadequacy because she will have the documents that prove she belongs here.

“I will have a totally different feeling,” she said. “I’ll feel secure.”

This story was originally published November 21, 2014 at 7:49 PM with the headline "Sense of security comes with immigration reform."