U.S. Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas, advocated Friday for Mexican Claudia Gonzalez, a DACA beneficiary who, because of a discrepancy in her documents, is prevented from returning to the United States.
“Claudia’s home is Houston, that is not in dispute, and we need to bring her home. While we fight for Claudia and her family, I will continue to work on my bill so that all ‘dreamers’ have a pathway to citizenship,” said the member of the House of Representatives in a message on the social network X.
Gonzalez came to the United States when he was seven years old unaccompanied by responsible adults, and in 2017 he was able to take refuge in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, initiated in 2012 during the presidency of Barack Obama.
According to the pro-immigration group FWD.us, some 580,000 people who were brought undocumented to the U.S. as minors are protected from deportation by the DACA program, which remains in effect pending a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
Gonzalez, whose husband and son are U.S. citizens, worked as a receptionist at Martinez Elementary School in Houston’s Pleasantville neighborhood.
Last June, Gonzalez traveled to Mexico for what she believed would be the last interview with U.S. officials in the process of obtaining her permanent residency.
According to an ABC report, a discrepancy in her documentation caused the interviewing official to deny her request as the wife of a U.S. citizen and, as a result, she was barred from returning to the U.S. for 10 years.
“This family’s story is no different than many others, and it’s tragic. It’s bureaucracy, it’s cruel to families who are trying to comply with the law, who are already certified under DACA, and who remain in legal limbo,” Garcia said.
Last June, Garcia and a bipartisan group of legislators introduced a new bill dubbed the “American Dream and Promise Act,” which aims to grant permanent residency to beneficiaries.