Obama’s plan offers hope for Triangle immigrants

RALEIGH — Mercedes Garcia’s phone started ringing Wednesday, a whole day before President Barack Obama’s prime-time speech on his immigration plan.

The 36-year-old, a native of Mexico, came to this country as a child with her parents. She has gotten married here, given birth to four children here and held numerous jobs here; and she considers Raleigh home.

In the 24 years Garcia has lived in the United States, she has grown weary of looking over her shoulder, constantly worrying that deportation could be just one misstep away.

“If that happened I don’t know where I would go,” Garcia said. “I don’t have any family there. My parents brought me here when I was a child. I don’t know anything about Mexico.”

Although immigration attorneys expect the finer details of Obama’s plan to take months to sort out, Garcia seems to fit the criteria for up to 5 million immigrants in this country illegally who are expected to gain some form of legal status.