Two Sisters, Two Americas

Diana Saravia, 13, and her older sister, Veronica Saravia, 21, are not just siblings—they’re best friends. They share many of the same interests, including art and current events. Plus, Diana knows she can count on Veronica for the important things, like rides to school and help with her eighth-grade math homework.

But there are some big differences between the sisters. Diana will be eligible to vote in national elections after her 18th birthday. Veronica doesn’t get a say in this year’s presidential election, even though she’s already old enough to cast a ballot. When Diana graduates from high school, she’ll be able to apply for federal student aid to go to college. Veronica isn’t in college because she can’t afford it—and she can’t ask the federal government for a loan.

How can this be? Diana is a U.S. citizen, born in Maryland, where she’s lived her whole life. Veronica, however, was born in El Salvador and was brought to the United States illegally by her parents when she was 10. 

The Saravia sisters, along with their parents and brother, are part of what is often referred to as a “mixed-status family”—a family whose members include people with different citizenship or immigration statuses. Approximately 16.6 million people in the U.S. live in mixed-status households that include at least one undocumented immigrant. About a quarter of those people are children born in the U.S. and, like Diana, are citizens who live with at least one undocumented parent.

Members of mixed-status families face constant challenges, including getting and keeping jobs, discrimination, and their greatest fear of all—being split up if one or more of them are deported. 

Now, in a presidential election year, that worry is more real than ever. While President Barack Obama has implemented policies intended to help undocumented immigrants—even bypassing Congress at times to do so—his term of office is almost up. Some 2016 Republican candidates are threatening to undo his policies if elected, leaving many undocumented immigrants at risk of deportation.

That’s Diana’s biggest worry. “I don’t want to be here all alone, separated from my family,” she explains. “They’re my family. I love them.”

An estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants reside in the U.S. The majority come from Mexico and Central America. (See “Where Are Undocumented Immigrants From?” below.) Although the overall number of undocumented immigrants hasn’t increased since 2009, in part because of beefed-up security at the border and a weaker economy in the U.S., most lawmakers agree that illegal immigration must be addressed. 

However, Democrats and Republicans have dramatically different ideas for immigration reform. Democrats generally focus on creating a path toward legalization for people already here illegally. They argue that such immigrants do jobs that few Americans want, like working on farms or cleaning homes. Plus, some Democrats say, many undocumented immigrants assimilate—learning English quickly, for example—and that shows that they’re committed to U.S. culture. 

Republicans tend to promote measures such as tightening border security to prevent more immigrants from coming here illegally. Some lawmakers in the party favor stepping up deportations because, they say, undocumented immigrants take jobs from Americans, commit crimes, and drain the country’s resources.

For a short time in November 2014, it seemed as if Maria and Miguel might qualify for protection as well. After further attempts to enact immigration reform in Congress failed, Obama issued another executive order. This one would have temporarily protected approximately 5 million additional undocumented immigrants from deportation, including the parents of U.S. citizens. When President Obama announced the executive order, he asked his fellow Americans: “Are we a nation that tolerates the hypocrisy of a system where workers who pick our fruit and make our beds never have a chance to get right with the law?”

But this time, conservative lawmakers accused the president of abusing his power. Within a month, 26 states filed a joint lawsuit against his administration. Last fall, a federal appeals court in Louisiana ruled in the states’ favor, preventing Obama’s order from being carried out. 

The Obama administration has appealed to the Supreme Court to overturn that ruling. But even if the nation’s highest court agrees to hear the case later this year and then allows President Obama to proceed with his plan, he’ll have very little time to enact the order. Whatever the case, the next president is almost certain to inherit the issue. 

On the 2016 presidential campaign trail, Democrats, including front-runner Hillary Clinton, strongly support Obama’s immigration policies—and have said that they plan to continue them if they’re elected. But some Republican candidates, including Florida Senator Marco Rubio and businessman Donald Trump, say that they’ll undo Obama’s executive orders on immigration. (A new president has the power to override a past president’s executive orders.) 

Rubio, a Hispanic-American whose parents were born in Cuba, has called the DACA program “unconstitutional.” However, he, along with several other Republican candidates, supports Congress’s working to enact some lasting immigration reform. Trump, on the other hand, has promised to deport millions of immigrants and build a wall along the entire border with Mexico to keep more people from coming in. 

“We have to get them out,” Trump said recently of undocumented immigrants. “If we have wonderful cases, they can come back in, but they have to come back in legally.”

However, all candidates know they need to tread carefully with voters—especially Hispanic-Americans. Among this growing population, 86 percent support a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants.

*First name has been changed for privacy.