Obama’s immigration plan protects millions, but leaves many out

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“Bittersweet” is how dozens of immigration advocates who gathered Thursday night in Phoenix described President Barack Obama’s announcement on immigration—and it’s easy to see why.

In an address to the nation, the president announced that an estimated 5 million undocumented immigrants will be shielded from deportation and allowed to work legally. That includes parents who’ve been living in the country for at least five years and have U.S. citizen or legal permanent residents.

SEE ALSO: Obama announces executive actions on immigration reform

But the president’s actions leaves out many immigrants, including the parents of Jose Patiño, a Dreamer who has been actively pressuring Obama to offer protections to as many people as possible.

“I’ve gotten arrested, I’ve stopped a bus outside the Phoenix ICE office, I’ve gone to D.C. to lobby congressmen, I’ve participated in a hunger strike outside the White House—I’ve done everything in my power to show the president that my parents deserve to stay here,” Patiño said in an interview with VOXXI. “And it’s hard to think that my parents and the parents of other Dreamers are going to be left out, again.”

Patiño was among the dozens of people who gathered in Phoenix to watch the president’s 15-minute speech. Sitting behind him were his parents and several family members. Originally from Mexico, the family has been living in Arizona for 19 years.

Patiño is protected from deportation and allowed to work under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, as are his brother and three sisters. But his parents are not, which is why he had hope that the president would offer them relief.

In his address from the White House, Obama made the case that rounding up and deporting millions of people isn’t just unrealistic, it’s also “not who we are as Americans.” He also talked about how many of undocumented immigrants have been living here for “a long time.”

“They work hard, often in tough, low-paying jobs,” the president said. “They support their families. They worship at our churches. Many of their kids are American-born or spent most of their lives here, and their hopes, dreams, and patriotism are just like ours. As my predecessor, President Bush, once put it: ‘They are a part of American life.’”

That’s true for Rosy Sandoval and her family. She has been living in Arizona for more than a decade, ever since she and her husband fled political persecution in Mexico. She is a mother of two Dreamers and a U.S. citizen, making her a prime candidate for relief under Obama’s executive actions.

SEE ALSO: Attorneys already overwhelmed on eve of Obama immigration announcement

In an interview with VOXXI, Sandoval said being able to get protection from deportation and a work permit would provide her the same “relief” her son and daughter felt after being approved for the DACA program. But at the same time, she said she feels “frustrated.”

“I know there’s going to be many people who are left out,” she said. “But I know we’re not going to rest. We’re going to fight for those who are left out.”

Her daughter, Reyna Montoya, shared those same feelings. She said she’s “really happy” that her mother could be protected from deportation under the president’s executive actions. But on the other hand, she said it’s “bittersweet” knowing many people wont’ qualify, including her father who has a prior deportation order.

“I’m so upset and so frustrated because we’ve been hearing that a lot of the mothers who’ve been working hard and have done so many actions to tell the president to do the right thing—they might not qualify and they might still be left out,” she said.

Maria Guadalupe Arreola is one of those mothers who will be left out. She was also among those who gathered in Phoenix to hear Obama speak.

With tears running down her cheeks, she spoke about how she’s in the process of being deported and is afraid to be separated from her family. She also talked about how she and other mothers of Dreamers have been pressing Obama to act.

“We are being left out after having been fighting at the White House, doing hunger strikes, talking to the members of Congress,” she said. “We have fought so much and they left us out.”

“But we’re not going to stop,” she continued. “We are going to keep fighting.”

SEE ALSO: Obama will try to convince Americans to back his immigration plan