When Argentina native Erika Grispino tells people she’s an “American,” she has to add an asterisk at the end of her sentence because of her immigration status.
“It feels like I don’t belong here and I don’t belong (in Argentina) anymore. I feel insecurity,” the 21-year-old said.
But if the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, a bipartisan Senate bill known as the “DREAM Act,” passes in Congress this year, Grispino, of Naples, would be eligible to apply to change her status from temporary to permanent. Last week, Grispino attended the so-called Dream University in Washington, D.C., where she joined more than 200 potentially eligible legal and illegal immigrants, known as “dreamers,” and their allies in a push to convince senators to pass the act.
Under several days of pressure from the dreamers, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who has the power to bring the bill to a vote, met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California to discuss their plan of action for the DREAM Act, which has made supporters hopeful that it will finally pass this year.