Peruvian child becomes symbol of US undocumented

LIMA, Peru – Seven-year-old Daisy Cuevas, thrilled to see herself on television with U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama, didn't quite understand the predicament in which she had innocently placed her undocumented Peruvian parents.

"She laughed, she jumped up and down. She was excited" after the encounter at Daisy's suburban Washington, D.C., elementary school, the girl's maternal grandfather, Genaro Juica, told The Associated Press.

The TV appearance made the pigtailed second grader a voice of the estimated 12 million immigrants living in the United States illegally — and a source of pride for Peru's president, who visits Washington on Tuesday.

"My mom says that Barack Obama is taking away everybody that doesn't have papers," Daisy told the U.S. first lady on May 19 at the New Hampshire Estates Elementary School in Silver Spring, Maryland.

"Well, that's something that we have to work on, right, to make sure that people can be here with the right kind of papers," Michelle Obama replied.

"But my mom doesn't have papers," said Daisy, a U.S. citizen by virtue of her birth.

The color immediately drained from her mother's face. She ran crying to call her parents in Lima, then went into hiding, fearful of being deported.

These are tense times for people like Daisy's mother, a maid who arrived in the United States with her carpenter husband when she was two months pregnant with Daisy.

Daisy's parents are fearful of U.S. anti-immigrant sentiment, which for many Latin Americans is epitomized by an Arizona law taking effect in July that gives police the right to demand ID papers of anyone suspected of being in the country illegally.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has said it is not pursuing Daisy's parents. Immigration investigations, it said in a statement, "are based on making sure the law is followed and not on a question-and-answer discussion in a classroom."

Nonetheless, Daisy's mother asked the AP after the May 19 incident not to name her or her husband.
And Juica, heeding an attorney's advice, asked the news agency not to take photographs of him or other relatives in Peru.

Daisy, meanwhile, has become a celebrity in Peru.
"I'm really proud that a young girl of Peruvian origin is highlighting the enormous problem with Latin American immigration in the United States," President Alan Garcia told reporters last week.
He said it would be scandalous if her parents were deported.

"Do you know how much President Obama and Mrs. Michelle Obama would stand to lose?" he said. Garcia called the Arizona law a "completely irrational response" to the illegal-immigration question, and said he would express his thoughts on the matter to President Obama during his visit to Washington.

An estimated 1.5 million Peruvians currently live in the U.S. Of those, three in five are either undocumented or in the process of legalizing their status, said Peru's consul-general in Washington, Cesar Augusto Jordan.

Peruvian Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Belaunde said in a Radioprogramas radio interview that he considers Daisy a "successful ambassador" for compatriots in similar predicaments.
While Daisy has automatic U.S. citizenship and lives full time with her parents, her 9-year-old sister, July, has not been so lucky. July was left behind with her grandparents when her parents moved to the United States to escape poverty.

The two sisters met for the first time last year when Daisy spent a month visiting her grandparents in the working-class San Juan de Lurigancho district of Lima.
But July misses her parents, who are unlikely to visit Peru because of their illegal status in the U.S.
July has only seen them in photographs and in video chats with a webcam.
"She cries," Juica said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100531/...rl_immigration

This just goes to show how much pain and suffering a daughter immigrants can go through. Even at a young age it seems as though many children might see police officers, government officals, and other authority figures not as heros but as enemies who need to avoided, rather then be looked to for help. Many children I know here worry about their parents, rather then living a free spirited childhood, it's filled with fear and anger. The reality is many parents do get deported, many young children stay without parents.

On a lighter side, Its scary that the mom went into hiding after her daughter blasted her on national tv. I wonder if little Daisy got a whooped

god bless the little girl and her family.

That story is sad. Little girl had no choice when she was born in US. I feel very sorry for her and her sister who was just left behind. I hope that Government will do something about CIR or DA and AgJobs at least as they do nothing right now.
One thing that I don't understand is why would parents give birth to 2 children if they lived in poverty? Me and my girlfriend want to have a baby but we are not ready financially and have no papers. Now, that poor little girl probably lives in poverty in US as well. Many anti-immigrant parties will also say that little girl is receiving benefits as low income from US taxpayers. That kind of behavior is angering US public against undocumented immigrants and legal residents.
And other daughter is just left behind in Peru? That's sucks big time. How can one just leave their child behind like that? I don't get it. You are responsible for your children. They are not things you buy and leave behind. My parents worked their asses off to bring us here. They came first, settled down a bit, saved money, and brought us over. My father had many medical conditions but he still worked really hard. He passed away two years ago because of those conditions but we never asked a penny from US taxpayers.
In my country we also have illegal immigrants mostly from Asia. They and their children are ineligible for any Government assistance. Because of that, nobody give a damn about illegals. And they just live and work quietly. Unless there is a crime or riot, immigration officials come and detain them. They save money and get papers by marriage if they want to settle in or they just take their savings and go home. I respect that.
US immigration and Government assistance laws are messed up. Why wouldn't USA adopt some of Canadian immigration laws with points? That will bring more educated people in the country. There are enough low income US citizens and legal residents to do jobs that Americans wouldn't want to do. And welfare laws? If you cannot afford a baby-use a condom. It's cruel in the way but USA cannot shelter all in poverty. Look at California. There are so much more spending than tax revenue. The whole state is at the brink of collapsing. It might set a chain reaction in whole country. US debt is at all time high and Federals are printing paper to pay for stuff-war (without the war USA would've collapsed already due to high oil prices), mortgage (you have no job? you could have a house. What?), and social services (I don't even go there. Social services are widely available to ANYONE. All ghettos are like leches sucked on US budget. I see people who collect all benefits and drive new Lexus's and Mercedes's. Where are Federals looking?).
To sum my long rant, I do feel bad for little girl and her sister. If you cannot be responsible for your children-don't have any. There is "I want" and there is "I can". Use the latter. USA cannot support all countries that are in poverty. I read CIR proposal and it seems more or less decent step forward. Borders and points of entry have to be secured. And whoever here illegally have to be put on track to get papers using some sort of point system. All of us will pass. Most of our parents will not but I personally will support my mother out of my own pocket if she decides to stay in US illegally. That's the right way in my believe.

Bet she couldn't sit for days.

The part about her sister had my tearing up. I couldn't imagine being here without my sister or my Mom.

@Vic: I agree with you. But, I think it was about her parents being strong enough to leave her with family members who were stable at the time. I'm sure when they got here, they had no idea where they were going to live, etc. So, they did what they thought was best and left her with their parents.

This is really cool. I am so glad Michelle Obama heard this.

Wow...did the Peruvian government really just say that?

yeah theyre on the same level of hiprocracy as the obama admin.

good for the little girl! so little yet was able to connect things together in her head and ask a question, im peruvian too . hooray for smart peruvians