PHOENIX – Oscar Vazquez knew he was taking a risk when he returned to Mexico for the first time in his adult life, starting what could have been a years-long odyssey to earn legal U.S. residency.
Turned out the wait was just 361 days, thanks to some political intervention. Vazquez was back in the U.S. Monday, visa in hand.
“Even though it took a year, I feel it came out good,” Vazquez said earlier this week.
The undocumented immigrant, a recent Arizona State University graduate, knew he would need to obtain the necessary documents if he ever wanted to put his hard-earned engineering degree to work.
Last year he essentially deported himself, leaving behind his wife and infant daughter to do what he said was the right thing—obtain legal residency.
And as he settled into Mexico after filing all the paperwork, he feared the wait could stretch on for years. But the timely intervention of a U.S. senator played a key role in Vazquez’s return.
Vazquez, who received international media attention as a high school student when his robotics team won a collegiate competition, had another splash of publicity with his struggle to reverse his illegal status. His story was told in The Arizona Republic, on CNN and on the floor of the U.S. Senate.
