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A tale of two Houston immigrants at the State of the Union 2019

February 6, 2019

One was invited by a Democrat. The other, a Republican.

Two Houstonians – Devani Gonzalez and Brij Agrawal – got the chance to witness the President Trump deliver his State of the Union address to Congress in person.

They both are immigrants: Agrawal was born in India, and is a Subway franchisee, and Gonzalez a Mexican-born teacher dreaming of becoming a Houston cop.

Pete Olson, a Sugar Land Republican, invited Agrawal to show an example of how some "legal" immigrants can succeed in the United States, his office said.

Gonzalez was invited by Houston's newly minted Democrat congresswoman, Sylvia Garcia, hoping to highlight the real-life consequences of being an undocumented immigrant in the United States.

Politics aside, both of them had an amazing time in the nation's capital.

"I'm still digesting it," Agrawal said. "This was my first time going to the State of the Union. The experience of seeing so many senators and congressmen in one room was so thrilling. It was everything I expected and more. It was overwhelming."

For Gonzalez, the trip was equally thrilling.

"I'm exhausted," Gonzalez said. "But it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

Gonzalez immigrated to Galena Park from her home state of Coahuila, Mexico, where she was born. Her parents brought her to the Houston area when she was 7, she told Chron.com.

From there, she attended public schools in Galena Park ISD and is currently obtaining an paralegal associates degree at San Jacinto College. But she's not dreaming of becoming a lawyer; Instead, she wants to be a police officer with the Houston Police Department.

Everything is in order for her to join the HPD academy and start patrolling the streets of Houston, except one thing: citizenship.

"DACA has been a great help," Gonzalez said. "It's allowed me to find work, obtain a driver's license, to study. But it's not a solution for me. At the end of the day, for me to become a police officer, is citizenship."

Gonzalez said she loved every moment she spent in Washington, D.C., from the city's beauty to meeting other congressional guests, people with all sorts of backgrounds and points of view.

"It was a really good atmosphere," she said. "They didn't divide the Republican guests and the Democrat guests. They had everyone mixed around. I got to meet a lot of people from all over the country."

When President Trump took the podium, she couldn't see him directly, nor could she see the House floor where her congresswoman was sitting. But she did notice one thing about the speech.

"Dreamers weren't actually pronounced in his speech," Gonzalez said, being a "dreamer" herself. "There were no remarks made toward us, and it was a little bit disappointing. Instead, (we heard) the typical attacks toward the immigrant community."

Gonzalez hoped the two major parties can work together to pass lasting legislation to help immigrants like her, who are undocumented through no fault of their own.

"We are very grateful for DACA, because it has opened so many doors for a lot of us," Gonzalez said. "But it's still not enough. We need an actual permanent solution toward citizenship."

Agrawal shared the same sentiment about a bipartisan approach to immigration reform.

"If the both parties work for what's best for America, there are a lot of things in common with both parties," Agrawal said. "I sometimes don't understand why they can't work together."

Agrawal was born in India and immigrated legally with his family in 1979, days before his 18th birthday.

While living in Houston as a young college student, he worked several jobs (including throwing papers for the Houston Chronicle) to pay his own way through college.

As for Trump's speech, Agrawal agreed with the President's idea of a border wall – Not as a way to stifle immigration, but instead as a way to regulate it.

"We should bring in all the people that we need and we want," Agrawal said. "Either the American companies or Americans who need this work to be done. At the same time, we should not have open borders where anyone and everyone can come in without us knowing who they are."

In addition to the wall, Agrawal advocated for more legal ways for immigrants to come to the country like he did decades ago.

"I kind of agree we need the wall," he said, "but at the same time we need to have ... bigger doors."

Whether or not Congress can work together to bring lasting immigration reform remains an open question. to be seen. But these two Houston immigrants both hope the politicians in Washington can deliver.