WAUKEGAN, Ill. (WLS) — A north suburban school board voted to fire an employee after amid a delay in her Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status renewal.
The union representing 33-year-old Guadalupe Ceja Hernandez requested that she be put on unpaid leave pending a change in her immigration status, but the Waukegan School Board went a different way.
"It is not personal. We have to follow the law, and we have to take the action that is best for our district," said school board member Rick Riddle.
The board voted five-to-one to fire 33-year-old Ceja Hernandez, who, for six years, worked as a District 60 communications specialist.
"I'm very devastated," Ceja Hernandez said. "I'm not losing my hope. I'm not losing my faith, but I really had hope it was going to turn out to something better."
Ceja Hernandez, who has spina bifida, was brought to the U.S. from Mexico as a baby by her undocumented parents. In 2012, she became a recipient of DACA, which allows her to remain in the country as long as she renews her status every two years.
"She's turned everything in on time. Her lawyer has said she's worked on everything. They're working on anything. They've expedited it. They've done all the things they're supposed to do," said Waukegan Professional Support Staff Council President Linda Unda.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says it "adjudicate[s] the majority of DACA renewal requests within 120 days."
But the National Immigration Law Center reports that under the Trump administration, some applications have taken six months or longer.
"The Trump administration is deliberately delaying the adjudication of DACA renewal applications," said Kalman Resnick, an attorney for the Illinois Federation of Teachers.
Ceja Hernandez's renewal has been pending since December.
"There's really nothing I can do but wait," Ceja Hernandez said.
Though they fired Ceja Hernandez, some board members say they hope to see her again.
"Once this does happen, and she gets her papers, she's coming back to work," one said.
Without a job, Ceja Hernandez says she has no health insurance and will now likely have to pay out of pocket for her medical treatments.
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