Vegas DREAMer talks immigration with Obama at White House

WASHINGTON — Blanca Gamez did a double-take entering the Oval Office on Wednesday. It was President Barack Obama himself who opened the door and ushered her in along with five others to talk about immigration.

“He said ‘Welcome!’ And I was like, is this really happening?”

Gamez, who is from Las Vegas, and fellow White House guests from Texas, Maryland, New York, Connecticut and Virginia are so-called DREAMers who have been granted temporary legal status through Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

In an hourlong meeting, they told Obama how it had changed their lives.

Gamez, 25, has earned political science and English degrees from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and hopes to attend law school in the fall.

“DACA changed my life completely,” she told reporters afterward at a news conference in the White House driveway.

The event was part of a White House push for immigration reform, including Obama’s executive action in November to expand the DACA program and establish the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, which could shield from deportation as many as 3.7 million immigrants in the country illegally.

Gamez said the group told Obama there was much confusion among undocumented immigrants and fear that the newfound legal benefit might be taken from them.

Obama told them he would veto a Republican bill pending in Congress that would bar the administration from carrying out the immigration initiatives and put many at new risk of deportation.

Gamez said she was taking a message back to Las Vegas.

“It’s, ‘Look, I sat down with the president. He is pushing for our families to stay together. Don’t be afraid, he said it himself, I was there,’ ” she said. “Be empowered, go out there and apply for DACA, apply for DAPA. And we need to push for Congress to pass a permanent solution.”