AMARILLO, TEXAS -- A life of fear, something even some people in Amarillo live with every single day along with hundreds of thousands of other immigrants living in the United States illegally.
"Would you classify yourself as an illegal alien?" Pronews 7 asked one woman, we'll call "Julie" to protect her identity, in an interview. "Yes, but I don't consider myself as guilty because I had no say so in where I was going to live when I was seven," she answered.
But for about 800,000 illegal immigrants, deportation may no longer be one of their fears.
Friday, the Obama administration announced a change in the immigration policy that would prevent illegals from being deported if they were brought to the United States when they were 16 years old or younger. The policy outlines that these people would have to currently be under age 30, have lived in the U.S. for five consecutive years, be a student, graduate or have served in the military and have a clean criminal record.
Supporters nationwide, and locally, celebrated.
"Yes, their parents broke the law and yeah if you want to punish them that's a different story," said President of Los Barrios de Amarillo Zeke Castro. "I'm trying to defend these young people, they had nothing to do with it. They're innocent."
"I think it will relieve a lot of stress from a lot of kids," Julie added. "I know a lot of students who are professionals that all they want to do is give back to the U.S. for helping them get their education.
But others were angry, some even lashed out at the President. When Pronews 7 asked on Facebook how you felt about the issue, we received comments like this one from Robert and Monica:
"I think they should all be deported. We don't have enough jobs for ourselves. Why should we have to work hard and support them. They come across and help while us Americans have to struggle."
Another comment from Lissa read:
"It is reprehensible that the President of our country is encouraging people to break our laws. I am 100% FOR immigration as long as it is Legal. There is not such thing as a 'law abiding ILLEGAL."
Then there are people like Carlos Mireles who came to the U.S. as a child but was naturalized in 2008. He said he sees both sides.
"If I had not applied for residency and citizenship, I would be in the same situation because I'd want to come to school," he said. "I wish that everybody could come here legally. I think then there would be no real issue. The whole thing with being illegal, you're kind of under the radar in a lot of ways. It's not equal to everybody else who legally pays taxes and files and stuff," Mireles said.
An issue long-debated, that to many, is still far from solving.
"You can't grant amnesty to everybody," Mireles added. "You can't make everybody happy."
