www.chicagotribune.com/topic/wgntv-undocumented-student-can-stay-1-year-dec10,0,7987667.story
Antonio Olivo
WGN News
December 10, 2009
CHICAGO
The undocumented student, Rigo Padilla, whose fighting to stay in the country has ignited a movement on his behalf, he said this morning, after a meeting with immigration officials in Chicago, that he will be allowed to stay in the U.S.
The reprieve, which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would not immediately confirm, came less than a week before Padilla, 21, was supposed to leave Dec. 16 for his native Mexico — where he hasn’t been since he was 6.
“It’s official,” Padilla said, smiling ear-to-ear as he held up a letter from ICE confirming that his application for a one-year stay was granted this morning.
“I promise that I’m going to work hard and go to school and graduate from college,” he said. “I hope my case can be an example” of the thousands of other undocumented immigrants hoping to stay in the country long enough to potentially win permanent legal status under immigration reform.
Padilla’s attorney, Kalman Resnick, said “hopefully, this is an initial step toward a major movement to stop the deportation of undocumented students in the U.S.”
The decision to stay the deportation of Padilla, whose immigration status was discovered when he was arrested for drinking and driving earlier this year, came during a meeting with ICE officials in Chicago today.
The news brought cheers inside the downtown offices of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, where activists who organized rallies and an Internet campaign on Padilla’s behalf awaited word of the meeting with ICE.
“This is wonderful,” Hoyt said. “Chicago came together in support of Rigo Padilla and the Obama administration heard [the president's] home town.”
“Now let’s get solutions for the whole nation and not do this on a case-by-case basis,” Hoyt added, referring to promises by Obama that federal immigration reforms are a high priority.
But, while Padilla’s plight has been emblematic of the frustrations felt by immigrant advocates hoping to win legalization for millions in the country illegally, his pardon is likely to stir resentment from groups pushing for more aggressive immigration enforcement.
As part of a three-legged platform for immigration reform pushed by the Obama Adminstration, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano promised a hard line against against illegal immigration.