TRENTON, Mo. (AP) — A gap in immigration policy means an English-born Missouri woman waiting for a green card likely won’t be able to take advantage of a new directive from President Barrack Obama stopping the deportation of many young people.
The problem: Lauren Gray has been living in the United States legally. The directive Obama announced last month is aimed at law-abiding immigrants brought illegally to the United States as children.
The St. Joseph News-Press reported that Gray and her younger sister have been allowed to live in Trenton on their parents’ work visa since arriving as children. Gray will lose the privilege when she turns 21 on Aug. 8.
When Gray’s grandparents became naturalized citizens in 2003, they applied for green cards that would allow Gray and her family to forever live and work in the U.S., as legal permanent residents. But the applications still haven’t been processed.
Gray told the News-Press she got her hopes up in June when Obama announced the new immigration directive, telling her lawyer, “Sign me up.” She recalled that her lawyer then told her: “Actually, Lauren, I’m sorry. This only applies to illegal immigrants.”
Even if the new directive might help her out, clear guidelines won’t come until after her birthday, and applications won’t be accepted until those terms are outlined. It puts her in a bind where she could stay and see what happens, but possibly jeopardize her green card application if she’s caught.
Gray studied dance at Stephens College and graduated in May. She had hoped to find a gig as a dancer in New York City or Chicago.
The Kansas City Star reported that unless good news comes soon, Gray will depart July 31. She plans to move in with an aunt in London to wait however long it takes for her final green card approval.
Gray said she supports the directive’s aim but wants to benefit too.
“I’ve done everything right,” she told The Star. “I’ve been part of every community I’ve belonged to. Then to be told you’re not welcome anymore? I definitely think it is my right as a human being to live here and stay here. Isn’t it supposed to be a welcoming country, a melting-pot country?”
Her family has long roots in the United States. Before Gray was born, her mother, Ali, and father, Ian, came to the United States to help Ali’s mother after she lost part of her leg in a farming accident and suffered a stroke.
But like her daughter, Ali Gray had to leave when she turned 21 because her visa expired. She later returned with her husband and two daughters — then 1 and 4 — under a type of visa designed for people coming to the U.S. to invest in or start a business that will employ U.S. workers. For 17 years, the family has run one of Trenton’s most popular diners, the Lakeview Motor Lodge and Restaurant.
Residents of Trenton, a town of about 6,000, are outraged.
“It’s not fair. It’s not fair. They’re absolutely getting the raw end of the deal,” Judy Schlarb, 71, a lifelong Trenton resident, told The Star while sitting inside the Grays’ restaurant. “They do a lot for our community. They take part in the community. They’ve been very, very good citizens. Do you know how many people they employ here? I don’t understand what’s going on.”
