HARTFORD, Conn. — Two years into a fight to stay in the United States, undocumented college student Mariano Cardoso learned of a victory last week not from immigration authorities, but from a U.S. senator who had taken up his cause.
On a call to his cell phone, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., delivered the news: Homeland Security officials had suspended Cardoso’s deportation, allowing him to graduate next month and work in the United States.
“He told me we had a lot to celebrate, but I told him I had to go to class,” Cardoso said. “I didn’t know what he was talking about.”
It was a culmination of the Democratic senator’s deep personal involvement in the case. Advocates say the supporting role he played, along with that of Connecticut’s Democratic governor, proved critical to winning a reprieve, but also highlights a fractured immigration policy in which decisions can turn on the influence of one’s supporters.
The Obama administration is facing growing pressure from Democrats and Latino groups to protect undocumented immigrants like Cardoso, 23, a community college student who has lived in the United States since his family brought him here from Mexico as a toddler. Legislation known as the Dream Act would give them a path to legal status as long as they enrolled in college or joined the military, but it has failed several times in Congress, most recently in December. The government does grant exemptions, but advocates say they are handed out erratically.
For Cardoso, the high-level connections resulted from a deliberate public relations strategy.
He had been targeted for deportation since August 2008, when immigration agents discovered his status after intervening in a gathering in his uncle’s backyard. With his legal options dwindling, he reached out in February to a student immigrant organization, United We Dream, which coached him on seeking and handling publicity. The first step was a student-organized demonstration at Trinity College, though he said he was reluctant at first.