When Luis Grijalva crossed the finish line at the NCAA track and field championships last month, he knew he could reach his Olympic dream.
But first, immigration officials would have to agree to let the 22-year-old runner travel outside the United States and come back to the country he calls home.
Grijalva is a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient who will travel to Japan on Friday to represent Guatemala in the 5,000-meter race at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. He and his lawyer spent several weeks petitioning US Citizenship and Immigration Services for a special permit known as advance parole that allows DACA recipients to reenter the US after traveling abroad.