Woman who took in 817 kids of undocumented parents: 'This is not reform, just temporary relief'

By Fusion Staff  |  November 21, 2014 | 6:51pm
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President Obama’s recent executive order, which will protect some 3.7 million undocumented parents from being deported, is in many ways a blessing for Nora Sandigo.

Sandigo is the legal guardian of 817 U.S.-born children whose undocumented parents have been deported or detained. In 2007, she filed a class-action lawsuit against Obama accusing the government of violating the civil and constitutional rights of these children for mass deporting their parents. Now, she plans to drop the lawsuit.

Still, she cautions, “This is not a reform, just some temporary relief.”

Sandigo, who at 17 arrived in the U.S. fleeing instability in Nicaragua, says her work began eight years ago when a desperate mother with two children asked her for help. After that, word spread and other parents facing deportation started reaching out.

Sandigo says this is what God wanted for her. The president’s announcement will allow around 90 percent of the parents of the children she looks after to remain in the U.S. However, Sandigo says the other 10 percent, whose parents have already been deported, will not be covered because Obama’s executive order does not include a plan to reunite families. “We will have to wait for a true reform from Congress,” she tells Fusion

Ingrid Rojas is a Colombian multimedia producer based in Miami. She spends her days either shooting, producing or editing all kinds of video content.

Rafa Fernandez De Castro is a Fusion consultant for Mexico and Latin America. He covers Mexican youth, politics, culture, narcos and funny stuff once in a while.

 
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