I am honored–and still a little bit shocked–that the President of the United States chose to share my story during his speech to announce administrative relief for millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States.
But most importantly, I’m thankful that this year won’t be the last time my family spends Thanksgiving together. Because of the hard work and organizing efforts of immigration activists here in Nevada and across the country, the President took action to keep families together.
In the weeks ahead I’ll be working with the community to prepare for the changes to our immigration system. PLAN launched similar organizing efforts for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and Driver Authorization Cards. My immigration story may have been singled out by the President, but I am by no means the exception. There are thousands of families like mine, and I’m going to make sure they have the tools and information they need for these important immigration changes.
We’ll need to do a lot of outreach to the community, including know your rights training and lobbying during the legislative session. Already Nevada’s attorney general-elect is preparing to sue the President and cause harm to our immigrant communities. Because of the new make up of the Nevada legislature, we face a very real threat of really nasty anti-immigrant bills coming to the floor for a vote. And we have to continue to push Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship so all 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US have the opportunity to stay with their families.
I’m thankful for my family, and the opportunities I have to to help my community. I’m also thankful for the outpouring of support from my fellow Nevadans.