More than 150 South Florida children gathered with their parents in Homestead to celebrate brand new U.S. citizenship Tuesday, but the happy occasion was in sharp contrast to the five million undocumented children and adults now in limbo across the nation.
Overnight, a federal judge in Texas temporarily blocked President Barack Obama's executive action on immigration, giving a coalition of 26 states enough time to pursue a lawsuit aimed at permanently stopping the orders.
The first of Obama's orders — to expand a program that protects young immigrants from deportation if they were brought to the U.S. illegally as children — was set to start taking effect Wednesday.
Many of the parents at Tuesday's event empathized with the disappointment for the affected families.
"I can't imagine what those parents must be feeling like," said Natalie Murray whose daughter became a citizen at the ceremony. "Tomorrow would have been a special day."
Children sworn in at Tuesday's event come from nations as far away as Poland, with some as young as 6-years-old.
