A Gwinnett County attorney fighting to keep a Duluth teen from being deported is overwhelmed by the changes in immigration policy announced Friday by the Obama administration.
"I want to cry... I want to cry for all the dreamers, this is a special moment," says Vanessa Kosky.
She says 99 percent of her clients are hispanic and many could benefit under the new policy.
"Individuals who are brought here to live the dream, who have earned their citizenship are now going to at least get deferred actions, work authorizations, be allowed to join the Army, the Navy, and enroll in college and get the benefit of an American education," Kosky tell WSB's Sandra Parrish.
She is currently fighting to keep 18-year-old Paula De Lima Villafan, a recent Duluth High graduate, from being deported.
The teen came to the U.S. from Uruguay when she was 4-years-old on a temporary visa. She spend three weeks in jail under an immigration hold following a fender bender in back in April. She was subsequently told she would have to leave the country by August'
Although Villafan would not benefit from the new policy because her removal orders were already in place, Kosky is hopeful it will play favorably in the teen's situation.
The two filed paperwork Friday at Immigration Court in Atlanta for a stay of her removal.
"It's actually a good feeling... if it doesn't get to me, it gets to everybody else that I know," says Villafan.