SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
With Letter and Hug, Five-Year-Old Takes Immigration Plea to Pope Francis
'I want to tell you that my heart is sad... every day I am scared that one day they will take [my parents] away from me.'
Sep 24, 2015
"I believe I have the right to live with my parents. I have the right to be happy."
With a message and a hug, five-year-old Sophie Cruz on Wednesday transformed a few minutes of Pope Francis' first U.S. visit into a resounding call for immigration reform.
Cruz, who was attending Francis' cavalcade on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. with her father and a group of immigration activists, caught media attention when she ran through a barricade to meet the Popemobile and deliver a letter to the Catholic leader whose progressive stance on many issues has helped brand him "the people's Pope."
Images of Francis stopping his procession and hugging Cruz circulated quickly among news outlets. But their meeting took on more significance when Cruz handed the Pope a letter about her family's experience. Her parents had come to the U.S. from Oaxaca, Mexico without documentation--and because Cruz is American-born, she lives in fear that one day her parents will be taken away from her and deported.
"I want to tell you that my heart is sad," Cruz's letter read. "I would like to ask you to speak with the president and the Congress in legalizing my parents because every day I am scared that one day they will take them away from me."
Cruz's father, Raul, was pictured at the event wearing a T-shirt that read, "!Papa Rescata DAPA!", which asks the Pope to save the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) program, a planned federal policy that would suspend deportation of undocumented immigrants who have lived in the U.S. since 2010 and have children with citizenship or permanent resident statuses.
Along with her letter, the young Cruz also handed Francis one of the T-shirts as a gift.
"All immigrants just like my dad help feed this country," her letter continued. "They deserve to live with dignity. They deserve to live with respect. They deserve an immigration reform."
Francis, who has called himself "the son of an immigrant family," is expected to deliver Cruz's letter to the U.S. Congress Thursday morning.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
"I believe I have the right to live with my parents. I have the right to be happy."
With a message and a hug, five-year-old Sophie Cruz on Wednesday transformed a few minutes of Pope Francis' first U.S. visit into a resounding call for immigration reform.
Cruz, who was attending Francis' cavalcade on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. with her father and a group of immigration activists, caught media attention when she ran through a barricade to meet the Popemobile and deliver a letter to the Catholic leader whose progressive stance on many issues has helped brand him "the people's Pope."
Images of Francis stopping his procession and hugging Cruz circulated quickly among news outlets. But their meeting took on more significance when Cruz handed the Pope a letter about her family's experience. Her parents had come to the U.S. from Oaxaca, Mexico without documentation--and because Cruz is American-born, she lives in fear that one day her parents will be taken away from her and deported.
"I want to tell you that my heart is sad," Cruz's letter read. "I would like to ask you to speak with the president and the Congress in legalizing my parents because every day I am scared that one day they will take them away from me."
Cruz's father, Raul, was pictured at the event wearing a T-shirt that read, "!Papa Rescata DAPA!", which asks the Pope to save the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) program, a planned federal policy that would suspend deportation of undocumented immigrants who have lived in the U.S. since 2010 and have children with citizenship or permanent resident statuses.
Along with her letter, the young Cruz also handed Francis one of the T-shirts as a gift.
"All immigrants just like my dad help feed this country," her letter continued. "They deserve to live with dignity. They deserve to live with respect. They deserve an immigration reform."
Francis, who has called himself "the son of an immigrant family," is expected to deliver Cruz's letter to the U.S. Congress Thursday morning.
From Your Site Articles
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
"I believe I have the right to live with my parents. I have the right to be happy."
With a message and a hug, five-year-old Sophie Cruz on Wednesday transformed a few minutes of Pope Francis' first U.S. visit into a resounding call for immigration reform.
Cruz, who was attending Francis' cavalcade on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. with her father and a group of immigration activists, caught media attention when she ran through a barricade to meet the Popemobile and deliver a letter to the Catholic leader whose progressive stance on many issues has helped brand him "the people's Pope."
Images of Francis stopping his procession and hugging Cruz circulated quickly among news outlets. But their meeting took on more significance when Cruz handed the Pope a letter about her family's experience. Her parents had come to the U.S. from Oaxaca, Mexico without documentation--and because Cruz is American-born, she lives in fear that one day her parents will be taken away from her and deported.
"I want to tell you that my heart is sad," Cruz's letter read. "I would like to ask you to speak with the president and the Congress in legalizing my parents because every day I am scared that one day they will take them away from me."
Cruz's father, Raul, was pictured at the event wearing a T-shirt that read, "!Papa Rescata DAPA!", which asks the Pope to save the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) program, a planned federal policy that would suspend deportation of undocumented immigrants who have lived in the U.S. since 2010 and have children with citizenship or permanent resident statuses.
Along with her letter, the young Cruz also handed Francis one of the T-shirts as a gift.
"All immigrants just like my dad help feed this country," her letter continued. "They deserve to live with dignity. They deserve to live with respect. They deserve an immigration reform."
Francis, who has called himself "the son of an immigrant family," is expected to deliver Cruz's letter to the U.S. Congress Thursday morning.
From Your Site Articles
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.