Longview, TX — Immigration attorney Cliff Jessup was busy Wednesday working on applications for deportation reprieves — the first day young illegal immigrants could apply for a permit to live and work legally in the United States under rules announced a day earlier.

The Jose Sanchez Law Firm in Longview, where Jessup practices, is expecting to help scores of immigrants who were brought to America as children file for a deportation reprieve by the end of 2012 under a new Obama administration policy.

Mirella Olivarez, 18, was one of hundreds of young immigrants in Longview and thousands in the United States who turned in applications Wednesday.

“I have been waiting 10 years to be recognized by the United States,” Olivarez said.

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