Immigration reform brings local hope

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Ten years after his family moved to Austin from Mexico, 20 year-old University of Texas student Juan Belman does not see himself as undocumented. 

"I see myself as (having) this opportunity.  I'm going to take the most out of it I can,” he said.

While he has no social security number, no actual American citizenship, a 2001 Texas law permits high school graduates like himself to continue their studies as long as he applies for permanent residency status.

"I don't think it's pure luck, but just my hard work that has gotten me to where I am," Belman told KXAN.

Last June, Belman celebrated when President Obama brought the deferred action program into being. That essentially buys him two more years after picks up his UT degree in governmental studies.

Even hard work or a green card application is no guarantee under the current mish-mash of federal immigration rules. Still, with concrete reform on the political horizon, Gavino Fernandez Jr., director of the Central Texas chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, issued this statement:

"LULAC District 12, embraces the announced immigration reform legislation leading to citizenship by both Democratic and Republican Senators and the House. This is a big step to finally addressing a human rights issue which was ignored for many years. We have a long way to go for passage, so we must begin the process of writing our Congressman and Senators from our communities for their support for passage. We have hope that this time we will end-up with a immigration reform by which a majority of Americans will support and our immigrant community will no longer live in fear of deportation and separation of families."

For the Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition (AIRC), the new reform talk should be significant for the future of Central Texas which, due to geography, is already saturated with Mexican culture.

"When we can integrate all of these communities into our society and into our culture and into our economy, it can only mean good things for our country," said Esther Reyes of AIRC.

Juan Belman is hoping to one day be part of that integration, maybe even running for city government in the place he calls home.  “I've been living in Austin ten years now," he said, "and I've helped my community as much as I can. And hopefully in the future I can help my community in a greater way."