As a child, 25-year-old Renata Teodoro was brought to the U.S. from Brazil by her parents, who lived and worked in the Boston area until her father’s asylum application was denied and her mother was deported.
Teodoro stayed in the U.S. to continue college, and several months ago received Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which removes the threat of deportation for two years.
Teodoro has become active in the student immigrant movement and is pushing for immigration reform.
“People are here, people are contributing,” she said. “It’s OK for my mom to clean houses, and work for you, and work for American people, but it’s not OK for her to have the same rights. And to me, there is something very wrong with that.”
In a congressional hearing this week, Republicans debated whether to give parents of so-called DREAMers like herself some kind of legal status.
“Sometimes laws are wrong and they need to be changed,” she said.
Teodoro recently took part in a DREAMer mother-child reunion at the 18-foot high border fence in Nogales, Arizona.
Guest
- Renata Teodoro, student immigration activist.
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