Fronteras Desk, a New Mexico In Depth partner, is out with a radio report this week that tells the story of two sisters in an immigrant family who have different types of legal status.
Cynthia Alba, 19, is a Mexican citizen whose mother brought her to the United States illegally when she was a child. Alba qualified for President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which puts off deportation for immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children and lets them work legally.
Her half-sister, Andrea Muñoz, 15, was born in the United States and is a U.S. citizen. The two talked with Fronteras Desk reporter Monica Ortiz Uribe about their reality.
“I get to fight for everything,” Alba was quoted as saying. “Everything, you know, getting glasses, getting attention to your teeth.”
Muñoz, meanwhile, qualifies for Medicaid.
“I get all this stuff… and she can barely go to the doctor,” Muñoz was quoted as saying. “I find it unfair because she’s human and she has a right to health.”
New Mexico In Depth collaborated with Fronteras Desk on the story. Such reports are available to Fronteras Desk’s stations, including KRWG-FM in Las Cruces, KUNM-FM in Albuquerque and others across the Southwest.
If you follow NMID’s work, you’ve met Alba before. We included her in a recent article about dreamers who are telling their stories to politicians and the public in an attempt to influence the ongoing reform debate in Washington.