EFE

Thousands of undocumented immigrants jammed the installations of Chicago's Navy Pier, where some stood in line all night to be among the first to apply for a new program that promises protection from deportation. "I arrived at midnight with my cousins and there were already people in line," a young woman named Heidi told Efe while standing a few steps from the tables manned by lawyers and volunteers from the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, or ICIRR.

EFE

Jasmine Guerrero has spent more than 10 years helping minority girls and young women who have done time behind bars to overcome the resulting social and economic barriers so they can find a better future. After submitting her senior thesis at California State University, Los Angeles, about the plight of women in jail and the hardships they face when released, Guerrero decided to jump in and help them herself. "Doing the research and the interviews and hearing the awful experiences of those girls opened a new horizon for me and made me want to help them reenter society," she told Efe in an interview.

EFE

Paola Espinosa, who won a silver medal for Mexico in 10-meter synchronized diving at the London Summer Olympics, said the experience was "a dream come true."