MONETT, Mo. -- For more than two decades, the lure of steady work has attracted immigrants, some in the U.S. illegally, to the Southwest Missouri town of Monett.
President Barack Obama's announcement Friday that immigrants under 30 years of age meeting certain criteria could avoid deportation came as welcome news to those immigrants here.
"Monett is home. The United States is home," said Luis Cecenas, an academic advisor for Drury University in Monett who was brought into the U.S. from Mexico illegally by his parents when he was six months old.
"For 22 years I was here illegally, but I just recently got my citizenship," Cecenas said Friday. He says he has been following reaction on social media.
