During the motorcade on the National Mall, Pope Francis stopped to kiss babies and children. One young girl got through the barrier and handed the Pope a letter.
At first, security stopped her, but the Pope signaled for her to come over. The crowd cheered as a guard lifted her to the Pope.
In a video posted on The Guardian, the girl, identified as 5-year-old Sophie Cruz from Los Angeles, reads the letter.
“Pope Francis, I want to tell you that my heart is sad, and I would like to ask you to speak with the President and the Congress in legalizing my parents because everyday I am scared that one day they will take them away from me,” she says.
“All immigrants just like my dad need this country,” she says.
Cruz describes herself as an “American citizen with Mexican roots.” She says her parents immigrated from Oaxaca, Mexico.
Her father, Raul, had a yellow T-shirt that read “Papa Rescata DAPA!”, according to the Guardian. The T-shirt’s message asks the Pope to save the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans, a program that seeks to postpone deportation for undocumented parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents.
Wednesday, which began with pomp and politics and ended with a controversial canonization, was the Pope’s first full day in the United States. The six-day visit will take him later this week to New York, where he will address the United Nations, and Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families, a large Catholic event that is expected to draw nearly a million pilgrims to papal Masses.
Kristi Ramsay and Daniel Burke
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