Ellie Perez, an undocumented "Dreamer" from Phoenix, will be attending Tuesday's State of the Union address with a mix of excitement and trepidation.
It will be her first time on Capitol Hill, even though she worked on the political campaign for U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton, a freshman Democrat from Arizona.
While excited about the opportunity, Perez also is worried President Donald Trump might use his State of the Union speech to continue his vilification of undocumented immigrants to drum up public support for border wall funding.
"I'm excited but at the same time I am very wary and I am very nervous about what the leader of our country is going to say," Perez said. "In particular, about people like me, people who came here by no fault of their own, without a choice, who by every definition of the word are Americans but the only difference between me and his children is that I was born on the wrong side of the border."
Perez, 28, was brought to the United States from Veracruz, Mexico, illegally by her parents when she was 4, along with two sisters.
After graduating from Shadow Mountain High School in north Phoenix in 2009, she graduated from Paradise Valley Community College in 2015. And then she graduated from Arizona State University in May 2017, with a degree in justice studies.
Perez said her it took her five years to get her two-year degree at Paradise Valley Community College because, as an undocumented immigrant, she had to pay more expensive out-of-state tuition. At the time, she was working as a house cleaner to pay for college.
Legalizing Dreamers should be a top priority, Stanton says
In 2012, she was approved for a program created by then-President Barack Obama that offered temporary protection from deportation and renewable two-year work permits, known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA.
The Trump administration announced in 2017 the program was being rescinded, following through on a campaign promise. But following several court rulings, people previously approved for the program have been allowed to continue renewing their permits. About 823,000 Dreamers are protected from deportation under the program, including about 23,000 in Arizona.
Perez will be attending the State of the Union Address as a guest of Stanton's. The former Phoenix mayor was elected to Congress in November and took office in January. Perez, 28, worked on Stanton's campaign as a political and field director.
Stanton is hoping Trump will use the address to signal that he will make legalizing undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, and known as Dreamers, a top priority.
“Hundreds of thousands of young people face uncertain futures, and there is strong bipartisan support for making sure DREAMers are a permanent part of the American fabric,” Stanton said in a statement. “There is a real opportunity for the President to appeal to the better angels of our nature and make finding a solution for DREAMers a top priority. I hope he takes it, and we can get something done.”
More than 15 SOTU guests affected by Trump immigration policies
Perez is among more than 15 people affected by Trump's immigration policies expected to attend the State of the Union Address, according to Fwd.US, an advocacy group.
Among the 15 will be a mother separated from her child under the Trump administration's zero-tolerance policy last summer, Fwd.US said in a statement.
An undocumented immigrant, Victorina Morales, who was fired from the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, after giving an interview with the New York Times disclosing her legal status, will also attend as the guest of Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., according to CBS News.
While Trump is likely to address immigration and border security, it remains to be seen whether he will signal a willingness to reach across the aisle to reach a compromise on border security funding that would avoid another government shutdown, or dig on demands that funding includes $5.7 billion to pay for a border wall.
In January, Trump proposed extending for three years the DACA program as well as a separate program called Temporary Protected Status in exchange for $5.7 billion for the border wall.
Temporary Protected Status has allowed more than 310,000 undocumented immigrants to legally live and work in the U.S., many for more than two decades, as their countries recover from natural disasters and armed conflicts
The offer was quickly rejected by Democratic leaders in Congress, who have refused to give in on any border security funding that includes money for Trump's border wall.
Perez said she hopes Trump will offer a more permanent solution to DACA recipients, but not in exchange for a border wall.
"I really want him to stop with the rhetoric that 'if you give me the wall I will give you DACA protection,' because the only reason there is a DACA crisis is because of him," Perez said. "He is the one who wanted to end the program."