Another reason to support #NYIC
In November, President Obama’s administrative relief announcement changed 5 million lives. In New York, an estimated quarter of a million people will be able to come out of the shadows to apply for temporary relief from deportation and work authorization. This victory follows two years of relentless action by our communities through the New Yorkers for Real Immigration Reform, a campaign coordinated by the New York Immigration Coalition. The New York Immigration Coalition is now working hard to make sure that as many eligible New Yorkers as possible will be able to apply for administrative relief. Here’s the story of one of 250,000 New Yorkers who will benefit.
You may remember Sara Martinez, an Ecuadorian immigrant whose deportation proceedings the NYIC successfully halted. The New York Times chronicled her story last month.
Sara came to the U.S. ten years ago from Guayaquil, Ecuador. When her tourist visa expired, Sara stayed on in the United States to give her family a better life. In 2010, Sara faced deportation proceedings that threatened to rip her apart from her daughters, one of whom was born in the U.S. Then she found the NYIC. Recognizing Sara to be an upstanding woman, mother and community member, the NYIC helped her apply for prosecutorial discretion in 2011. Due to the tireless advocacy of NYIC staff and supporters, Sara’s deportation proceedings were ceased—permitting her family to remain together. Yet she was not given permanent legal status, and as a result, Sara continued to live in fear of being separated from her 6-year-old U.S. citizen daughter Hillary who has no one else to take care of her.
On November 20th, Sara clutched Hillary’s hand at the NYIC’s viewing party and listened to President Obama announcement of administrative relief. In an instant, her world was transformed. As the mother of a U.S. citizen, she is eligible to apply for the President’s newly announced ‘Deferred Action for Parental Accountability’ (DAPA) program.
For Sara, as for hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants, DAPA represents an opportunity to live without fear, to work with dignity, and to maintain her family intact.
Just as your support in 2011 helped stop Sara’s impending deportation, we made history last month because of the passion and steadfast commitment of our allies and supporters across the state and throughout the nation.