LA immigration group at center of girl’s encounter with pope

Sophie Cruz is from southern California.

As Francis drew nearer and nearer in his open-sided popemobile and the crowd in Washington whooped, squealed and quivered, the little girl with black pigtails spotted her chance.

On the T-shirt, there was a message in Spanish: “Pope: Rescue DAPA, so the legalization would be your blessing”.

“I’m scared that the ICE will take my family away”, Sophie Cruz told The Associated Press in an interview, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Sofia said she wrote the letter about the five million children in the USA like herself whose immigrant parents could be deported.

Sophie is the daughter of two undocumented immigrants and her drawing read, “My friends and I love each other no matter our skin color”.

‘I believe I have the right to live with my parents. They deserve an immigration reform because that’s in America interest.

“Basically … the pope is saying embrace the poor and welcome everyone and embrace the poor and be there for each other”, she said.

“The police wanted to move her aside, but the pope asked for his vehicle to stop”, said a Vatican spokesman.

“I don’t think she was being used”.

The groups that brought Sophie and her dad to Washington aren’t rookies at getting the pope’s attention. “As I like to say, he answers to a higher authority”.

Sophie and her father will appear at a rally and news conference Wednesday evening at the Capitol.

Sofi Cruz was part of an advocacy group from Los Angeles, Hermandad Mexicana Transnacional, that traveled to Washington D.C. for the historic visit.

Though initially hesitant as security officials approached along the parade route, Sophie refused to leave the pope’s side Wednesday until a bodyguard took a handwritten letter and a T-shirt.

“The fathers and mothers of U.S.-born children live in complete uncertainty”, he said. On the campaign trail, Rubio often invokes his humble beginnings as the son of Cuban immigrants who achieved the American dream. “Don’t forget about us, the children, and those who suffer because they don’t have their parents close to them due to the war, violence or hunger”.

And if you still doubt the degree to which immigrant activists are banking on the power of personal narrative to shape US politics, consider this: The nation’s largest Latino civil rights organization, the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), hosts an annual convention complete with workshops aimed at training people around the country to be effective activists working toward a variety of causes. Her cause is one that this pope is receptive to: On Thursday, Pope Francis made a nearly hour-long speech before Congress calling for the U.S.to display greater openness to immigrants as well as refugees.