‘It was definitely unreal’: A ‘dreamer,’ a SEPTA driver, and a freed inmate were among Pa.’s State of the Union guests

WASHINGTON — An immigrant who graduated at the top of her college class, a heroic SEPTA bus driver, and a Philadelphian who spent decades in prison before having his sentence commuted were among the guests who joined the first lady and Philadelphia-area lawmakers at the State of the Union speech Tuesday night.

Sitting in one of the prime locations was Mitzi Colin Lopez, a 23-year-old Coatesville resident who is a so-called dreamer who has been protected from deportation by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program instituted by President Barack Obama. She was invited to sit in the first lady’s box with Jill Biden and her guests.

“It was definitely unreal. I’m still processing it now,” Colin Lopez said in an interview shortly after the speech. “Being able to be in a room with the president, the vice president, Supreme Court justices, the entire Congress; it was just amazing.”

While President Joe Biden didn’t name Colin Lopez during his speech, he referred to the program shielding her and called on Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform, including increased funding for border security.

“American border problems won’t be fixed until Congress acts. If we don’t pass my comprehensive immigration reform, then at least pass my plan to provide the equipment and officers to secure the border,” Biden said. “And a pathway to citizenship for dreamers, those on temporary status, farmworkers, essential workers.”

Republicans responded by shouting, “Secure the border!”

Colin Lopez arrived in the United States at 3 years old, when her parents came from Mexico, and has since graduated summa cum laude from West Chester University (the same school that Jill Biden attended), and has become an immigration reform advocate. She’s one example of a large cohort who grew up in the United States after being brought to the country without legal status as young children.

In the interview Tuesday night, she recounted her parents giving her and her siblings a plan when they were young in case her mother or father got pulled over or detained, and knowing it was a real possibility that any day could bring a moment that broke up their family.

Yet on Tuesday night, she had dinner at the White House.

(She almost missed the invite, though, when she didn’t recognize the phone number calling her Friday night. “I usually don’t check my voice mail, so luckily I did,” she said.)

Colin Lopez previously met with Biden in 2021 to describe her experience with the DACA program.

“I really like how he is trying to make [immigration reform] an issue for both parties, and I think it is very doable,” she said.

Her invite to the first lady’s box put her in the company of other striving and struggling Americans, as well as global figures. Among Jill Biden’s other guests were U2 singer Bono, Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova, and RowVaughn and Rodney Wells, the mother and stepfather of Tyre Nichols, the Black man who died in Memphis after being beaten by police. Others included a cancer survivor; the man who disarmed a mass shooter in Monterey Park, Calif.; a Cincinnati ironworker; a Holocaust survivor; an aspiring teacher; and Paul Pelosi, husband of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.).

“Being up there with all of them was just incredible,” she said.

Also in the chamber, Rep. Brendan Boyle (D., Pa.) brought SEPTA bus operator Chris DeShields, who on Jan. 25 stopped a carjacking in Fishtown by angling his 15-ton vehicle toward the perpetrators, leaning on the horn, and shouting out the windows, scaring them off.

“I was just showing humanity to another human. All’s I know is, I’m here after I just tried to help somebody,” DeShields told reporters in a video call arranged by Boyle’s office.

He added: “I am totally delighted to be here today. I didn’t expect any of this.”

» READ MORE: Carjackers were no match for a brave SEPTA driver Chris DeShields and his 15-ton bus

Boyle presented DeShields with a proclamation saluting his heroism and planned to take him to a reception hosted by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.), and then give him a tour of the Capitol.

Boyle called DeShields “a true hero from Philadelphia.”

“He’s humble, so probably a little embarrassed when I’m calling him a hero,” Boyle said. “What he did not only saved one woman, it also has inspired the entire Philadelphia region to know that any single person, no matter what job you have, no matter where you are, that you could be called on in a moment’s notice to do the right thing and the heroic thing.”

» READ MORE: Sen. Fetterman will take Dennis Horton, freed after 28 years in prison, to the State of the Union

Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.) brought Dennis “Freedom” Horton, one of two Philadelphia brothers convicted of second-degree murder in a case that later came under significant criticism. They maintained their innocence over 28 years in prison and were released in 2020, their sentences commuted after vigorous advocacy from Fetterman, who as lieutenant governor chaired the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons.

The Horton brothers went on to become Fetterman campaign staffers and vocal public surrogates, and Fetterman’s invite underlined his focus on criminal justice reform as he establishes his presence in the Senate.