On the one-year anniversary of the Obama administration’s policy to provide relief from deportation, a look at how things changed for several young immigrants.
High-profile immigration activists Gaby Pacheco (right), Jose Antonio Vargas (second right) and recipients of deferred action for childhood arrivals. (AP)
(AP)
One year ago, the Obama administration instituted a policy that would dramatically change the lives of hundreds of thousands of young, undocumented immigrants.
Under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals plan, more than 400,000 "dreamers" who were brought to the United States as children and met certain criteria have been given temporary protection from deportation and received permission to work in the U.S.
While the policy does not provide for a path to lawful permanent resident status or U.S. citizenship, it has allowed many to earn good jobs and receive driver's licenses, and offered renewed hope about dreamers' future in the country they've known since childhood.
Gaby Pacheco, 28
Gaby Pacheco on Aug. 15, 2012, the day deferred action went into effect.
Associated Press
Deferred action had long existed as an option the government can enact, and Pacheco began pushing to receive deferred action in 2006. But beginning in 2011, Gaby Pacheco was one of the key cogs in a campaign to get the policy adopted widely. She worked with the Obama administration to get it done despite long odds and advice from people who said it wasn't going to happen.
"Attorneys and even people today who are celebrating the anniversary said that it was impossible," Pacheco told BuzzFeed. "But we made it possible."
Now she has launched a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit called The Bridge Project, which seeks out people who have been against immigration reform and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
"We try to work with Republicans and moderate Democrats to come to the understanding that we need to get this done," she says. "We use the power of our stories."
