Sheboygan man's video game history helps him stay in U.S.
Jose Muñoz loves to play video games, but he never thought they would be a game changer in his life.
Like so many other undocumented youth, Muñoz came to the States with his family from Mexico when he was just 1. When he was in third grade, the family moved from California to Sheboygan where relatives lived and there was the promise of a job for his father.
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But because the visa his family had used to come to the U.S. had long since expired, Muñoz said he found himself facing a bleakly blank future.
"I wanted to go to school, but if I got a degree from a college or technical school, how would I get a job without citizenship?" he said. "I was scared. I was frozen. I didn't know what to do."
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Then last summer, President Barack Obama announced the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals for those in situations just like Muñoz's - people who came here before they were 16 and were under 31 on June 15, 2012.
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"He met all of the requirements. He had no criminal record, graduated from high school with honors and lived here since the age of 1," said Odrcic. But to qualify a person also has to prove continuous residency in the country since June 2007. That proved problematic.
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"At some point in the consultation, I learned that he played video games and, although I'm 41, that's an interest of mine," said Odrcic. The two got to talking about their mutual love of games and the ones they owned.
"Then it dawned on me that he may have some record of the games he had purchased or something that shows he's been here since 2007," he said.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/sheboygan-mans-video-game-history-helps-him-stay-in-us-4m9932n-199794331.html