Family awaits avenue for lawful residency

Lora appears American: from her blue eyes to the sound of her voice, which hasn't even the hint of a Spanish accent. She and her husband own a home. They work. They pay taxes. But they are not legal.

"This is our home. We work hard for it, really hard,” said Lora, 23. "We are going to stick around and we are going to follow the law. We are not going to speed. We don't drink. We just want to be good citizens.”

On Friday, her extended family congregated in the living room of her south Oklahoma City home. Everyone there, with the exception of her 2-year-old daughter Lupe, is an illegal immigrant: Her mother Maria, a housekeeper; her father, a construction worker; her aunt Bertha, a housewife; cousin Jackie, a college student; and her other cousin Lorena, a senior at the University of Oklahoma who is majoring in accounting with a minor in finance.

Also present was a close family friend, Jose, also a senior at OU, who will graduate this year with a degree in engineering.

"There is no way for us to become legal U.S. residents unless we go back to Mexico for 10 years. If there was, we would have done it,” Lora said. "I am not a criminal. I did not even come here under my own will. My parents brought me here.”

Dealing with the police

Before moving to Oklahoma City, Lora's family lived in a small suburb. Then, too, her mother worked cleaning the homes of wealthy Americans.

On one day, Maria was sitting in her car outside a client's home, afraid to approach because the owner of the house had dogs.

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