DREAM Act poster child Daniela Pelaez may face deportation
Daniela Pelaez may still face deportation.
By EMILY DERUY
The North Miami Senior High valedictorian who made national headlines as the poster child for the DREAM Act last spring may be deported.
According to Miami television station WSVN, Daniela Pelaez recently learned that Department of Homeland Security lawyers are asking a judge to continue with deportation proceedings even after she was granted a reprieve.
She and her sister, Dayana, were granted a two-year reprieve in March after facing imminent deportation to their native Colombia. They were granted permission to remain in the U.S. after mass protests in South Florida and appeals by several local politicians, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.).
Pelaez’s family came to the United States and overstayed a tourist visa when Daniela was four years old. Daniela, 18, and her sister face deportation even though their father and brother were granted legal residency and citizenship, respectively.
While the two-year reprieve is not being revoked, the Department of Homeland Security lawyers are opposing the sisters’ appeal to stay in the country. A U.S. Customs and Immigration Official told the Huffington Post that, “nothing in this motion disturbs the agency’s decision to grant deferred action to the sisters.”
Daniela graduated in June with a 6.7 GPA, and was looking forward to attending Dartmouth College in the fall. But according to WSVN, she received a letter saying Department of Homeland Security lawyers were opposing the sisters’ appeal to stay in the United States.
The letter came mere weeks after President Obama announced a plan to allow some undocumented youth to stay in the country.
In March, Daniela was even helping Florida Rep. David Rivera (R-Fla.) write a modified version of the DREAM Act. It would allow undocumented students to apply for residency adjustment during a six-month grace period upon turing 18 if they are graduating high school and plan to attend a four-year university.
“Are you kidding me? Your boss just said, ‘Don’t do anything to interfere with them.’ There’s just a lack of communication,” Daniela told WSVN.
(Photo: Screenshot, YouTube)
