SPRINGDALE, Ark. – Irma Chavez is a married mother of four who leads a business networking initiative in this small Arkansas city she calls home.
It's a long way from her life as a live-in housekeeper in California years ago, and further still from a childhood working in El Salvador's coffee fields.
What has indelibly marked the path of the 44-year-old marketing specialist is a government program that allows people from countries ravaged by disaster and war to live and work legally in the United States.
While the Trump administration tried to cancel the program for many immigrants, President Joe Biden is backing legislation that would give Chavez and hundreds of thousands of people like her a shot at becoming American citizens.