Immigration activist Astrid Silva will be delivering the Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress in Spanish on Tuesday evening.
Silva marks the very first time a Spanish response will be delivered rebutting a president’s first address to a joint session of Congress. She will be joined by former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, who will deliver the Democratic response in English.
Her speech Tuesday evening will target Trump’s immigration policies. “It is extra crucial than ever that we show the American men and women the real faces of immigrants and that we push back on President Trump and Republicans’ strategy and vision for America,” Silva said in a statement released by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Residence Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Friday.
Here is additional to know about Silva:
“When I was 4 years old, my mother and I climbed into a raft and we crossed the river to join my father in America, in search of a better life. All I had was a tiny doll,” Silva mentioned in her speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
Getting crossed the border from Mexico to the U.S., Silva’s loved ones decided to make Nevada their residence. Her father worked as a landscaper and her mother cleaned houses.
Silva wanted to attend a magnet higher school, but her parents mentioned no simply because they were afraid a person would find out Silva was undocumented. But she applied behind their backs and was accepted. Silva completed magnet school at the leading of her class and did not want to quit there.
For the subsequent 5 years, she worked as a babysitter in order to spend for community college classes, earning two associate’s degrees in arts and political science. She then went on to earn her third degree from Nevada State College.
“But for all of my person success, my family members still lived in worry that we would be separated,” Silva wrote in a USA Now opinion piece.
Then in 2011, her father was detained and facing deportation.
“Just to have my dad in a detention center for 1 week was devastating to me,” Silva mentioned for the duration of her December 2014 testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Her father’s deportation was deferred to 2014 and then later deferred again below President Barack Obama’s 2014 executive action.
Her speech at the 2016 DNC, having said that, was not the very first time her story received national attention.
In announcing new executive action on immigration in 2014, President Obama utilised Silva’s story to show the plight of undocumented immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for most of their lives.
“Are we a nation that kicks out a striving, hopeful immigrant like Astrid, or are we a nation that finds a way to welcome her in?” President Obama mentioned in his remarks to the nation on Nov. 20, 2014.
President Obama’s announcement of new immigration reform – Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, or “DAPA” — allowed her father short-term remain simply because her brother was born in America.
“When the president told my story, I looked at my dad, and then over to my mom, and I started crying with relief,” Silva wrote of her experience watching President Obama’s speech.
The next day, immediately after the president’s speech, Silva introduced Obama at a rally at the Del Sol High School in Las Vegas.
Silva decided to become an immigration activist immediately after her family members could not return to Mexico to attend her grandmother’s funeral.
“That’s when I realized I could not sit idly by and watch households being torn apart because of our broken immigration system. I knew I had to act,” Silva wrote in USA Now.
She co-founded the Dream Huge Vegas organization in her community for immigration reform. She also struck up a friendship and partnership with former Nevada Senator and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to push for legislation.
“My household and I are here simply because of individuals like Sen. Harry Reid. Who put themselves in our shoes and helped us,” Silva stated at the 2016 DNC.
Adding that her loved ones nonetheless is fighting for legal citizenship, she mentioned, “And even though President Obama’s immigration action protected me, we reside in continuous worry that my parents could be taken away from their grandson, Noah.”
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