Thursday, August 9, 2012

British Citizen Lauren Gray Becomes DREAM Act Political Fodder

On one side there was 21-year-old Lauren Gray. On the other was the Department of Homeland Security. Gray was scheduled to deport herself to Great Britain from her home in Trenton, Mo. Then Sen. Claire McCaskill intervened on her behalf.

* Gray's parents immigrated to the United States when she was just 4 years old. Ali and Ian Gray , born in Great Britain, moved to Missouri and bought the Lakeview Motor Lodge and Restaurant 17 years ago, according to the Kansas City Star.

* The reason the Gray's oldest daughter was going to have to return to Britain was because at the age of 21, she was no longer going to be classified as a dependent of her parents. On Lauren Gray's 21st birthday Wednesday, her status as an immigrant was deferred.

* The recent college graduate was given a two-year visa which will allow her to seek a work permit on her way to becoming a citizen of the United States. Gray first applied for citizenship papers nine years ago, but the current backlog for applications turned into a very long wait.

* On the website Change.org, Lauren Gray created an online petition to President Barack Obama. On the webpage, the young lady asserts, "She will be forced to leave the place that she calls home, and deported to a country that is very 'foreign' to her."

* Further, Gray wants the DREAM Act to pass Congress. A provision of the act would allow citizens a six-year temporary residency permit should they complete two years of higher education.

* Gray earned a degree in dance from Stephens College in Columbia, Mo. this past May. Her younger sister, Gemma, turns 21 in just three years.

* McCaskill got the deferral for Gray after calling Secretary Janet Napolitano of the Department of Homeland Security. KSDK reports the future U.S. citizen said, "This is the best birthday present ever."

* Gray made headlines in mid-July when the Kansas City Star ran a story about her situation. At the time, the young woman's plan was to live in London with relatives overseas. When Obama announced in June the Department of Homeland Security would defer illegal immigrants from deportation, the only snafu was that the Gray family wasn't in the United States illegally to begin with.

* Because of Gray's status as the daughter of naturalized citizens, her green card visa was given a lower priority status than others. The Gray family spent more than $20,000 on six different lawyers to try to get Lauren's status changed before her 21st birthday.

* The Lakeview Motor Lodge and Restaurant employs nearly 30 people. The Gray family spent more than $250,000 to buy and run the business when they first came to America.

* Trenton is a small town of 6,000 people in north central Missouri. Lake Trenton is a small recreational lake 95 miles north of Kansas City.

William Browning is a research librarian specializing in U.S. politics.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/british-citizen-lauren-gray-becomes-dream-act-political-163100900.html

pineapple upside down cake free ecards flying car masters golf tournament the replacements how to hard boil eggs new nfl uniforms

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.