ASU alum tapped by Obama to write letter

Immigrant’s story a call for reform

A letter e-mailed last week to millions of President Barack Obama’s supporters nationwide to drum up support for his push for comprehensive immigration reform was written by an undocumented immigrant who grew up in Arizona and graduated from Arizona State University.

Jose Magana, 26, said he was asked to write the letter after speaking at a conference last month in Washington, D.C., to launch a new non-profit, Organizing for Action. The group, which grew out of Obama’s re-election campaign, is aimed at creating grass-roots support for Obama’s secondterm agenda, including passing an immigration overhaul that includes a pathway to citi-

zenship for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S.

“I was very honored that they asked me to write that letter and share my story,” Magana said in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C., where he now lives.

The letter, e-mailed under the subject line “Where’s your family from?” introduces Magana as an undocumented immigrant who is “living proof that our immigration system is broken.”

It recounts how Magana came to the U.S. from Mexico when he was 2 and later graduated from college and then law school. In the letter, Magana does not directly say what state he grew up in or name the schools he attended. He said those details were omitted by the organization, most likely out of concern for his safety.

Magana describes in the letter how he still has no way to legalize his status permanently even though he was granted “deferred action” under a program Obama launched in August that lets young undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as minors apply for work permits and receive a temporary reprieve from deportation.

“I consider myself an American, and I want to play by the same rules as everyone else,” Magana wrote in the e-mail. “But, as it stands, I can never become a citizen. I can’t adjust my status. For most of my life, I could have been arrested, detained, and deported.

“I’m not alone. Millions of undocumented immigrants like me live in fear of being deported permanently to a country we may have never even visited. Our entire lives could be erased.”

The letter was e-mailed and posted on barackobama .com — the website for Organizing for Action — days before Obama is expected to again advocate for immigration reform during his State of the Union address on Tuesday. Last month, he delivered a speech in Las Vegas calling for comprehensive immigration reform.

Magana graduated with a degree in business management from Arizona State University in 2008.

Magana said he moved to Washington, D.C., after graduating last May from Baylor Law School in Waco, Texas.

He said he is studying to take the Maryland Bar exam later this month and hopes to work as a legislative attorney specializing in immigration and civil-rights policy.