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Daniela Pelaez ’16 talks with Dick Gordon of The Story about being an undocumented resident and receiving a deportation order last year, and how 3,000 students at her Miami high school reacted to the order by staging a protest. She also talks about lobbying U.S. senators in Washington, D.C., about immigration reform.

“This past spring, we did go with an agenda to meet at least with the aides of the ‘Gang of Eight’ if not with the senators themselves,” she tells Gordon. “We wanted to touch base with them and show them, ‘this is what we should be doing, this is what you need to do,’ and ‘remember that we are still here, and we still need a voice to be heard.’ ”

Pelaez, who was valedictorian of her high school class, has, along with her sister, recently been granted a two-year deferment from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, The Story reports.

Listen to the full story, broadcast on 5/6/13 by American Public Media.