Hope, doubt greet Obama's immigration reforms

Marvin Lopez said he works hard, pays taxes and would like to live in the United States legally.

He’s hopeful he may finally get his chance.

Lopez, along with more than 30 other men in the English class at Neighbors Link.....

.....“I hope this time it is true,” Lopez, 30, said in Spanish, referring to Obama’s commitment to an immigration policy overhaul. “I hope that changes are made and that what is being said is accomplished.”.....

...The president’s speech held customers’ attention at a Port Chester laundry, where Maura Chiavarria and Tony Ramirez had different reactions to what they heard.

Chiavarria, 75, said she hoped that “everything he is promising is fulfilled.” The Guatemalan native with permanent residency in the United States wanted to see help for parents who are being deported, with no means of gaining legal status, and leaving their U.S.-born children in this country.

“There are many who have been here for years,” she said of the parents.

But Ramirez, a 47-year-old Ecuadorean native, expressed frustration over the seven years he has waited for his 25-year-old son to immigrate to the United States. Ramierez, a golf course maintenance worker, said the president wasn’t focusing on the needs of people like him, who are struggling to pay taxes and to get by on seasonal employment for $8.50 an hour.....

.....Graciela Heymann, executive director of the Westchester Hispanic Coalition in White Plains, said that, for the first time in her career, the part in the Declaration of Independence that says “all men are created equal” will ring true as people “come out of the shadows.”

“I think for today I’m going to take a step back and celebrate,” she said. “All the rights that we all take for granted will be extended to them, and I think that’s a beautiful thing.”

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