Immigration Reality: Once illegal, Houston legislator works to change perceptions

The background story of Texas State Rep. Ana Hernandez Luna

Once illegal, Houston legislator works to change perceptions | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle: "State Rep. Ana Hernandez Luna stood before the House on the afternoon of May 9, hours after lawmakers passed the controversial 'sanctuary city' bill, and started reading from a prepared statement, her eyes downcast.

'I know House Bill 12 already passed, and in the long run there is nothing that could have been done about its passage,' she said.

But still, she said, she had something to say. And then, in a halting and teary speech, Hernandez Luna, D-Houston, described what life is like as an illegal immigrant.
She knows, she said, because she lived it.

'Immigration and all that it encompasses is very personal for me because I was an undocumented immigrant,' Hernandez Luna said. 'You may prefer to use the word illegal alien, but I'm not an alien. I am not a problem that must be handled. I'm a human — a person standing before you now as a representative for the Texas House.'"