Obama mention surprises DREAMer
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
updated 1:11 PM EST, Fri November 21, 2014
Washington (CNN) -- The DREAMer President Barack Obama highlighted in his national address on immigration Thursday night said she felt "complete relief" when Obama laid out his plan to shield up to 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation and said she was surprised to hear him tell her story.
"It was completely unexpected. I didn't know that it was coming," Astrid Silva, an undocumented immigrant who came to the U.S. with her parents when she was four, said in an interview with CNN Friday.
Obama said Thursday that he will use his executive authority to focus immigration officials on "felons, not families. Criminals, not children."
Silva did not at first hear her name as she watched alongside a boisterous group of fellow immigration reform activists.
"And when he started talking about the cross and my dress and I said, 'That's how I came here!'" Astrid recalled. "It was definitely a moment that I'll never forget."
During his speech on Thursday, Obama said: "Astrid was brought to America when she was 4 years old. Her only possessions were a cross, her doll and the frilly dress she had on."
Read a transcript of Obama's speech
Silva was motivated to begin advocating for herself and other undocumented immigrants when her grandmother died and she couldn't travel to Mexico for her funeral.
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Obama mention surprises DREAMer