Three months after President Barack Obama announced some undocumented young people would be granted work authorization and deportation reprieve, Democrats gave them another big acknowledgement: a speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention.

Benita Veliz, a 27-year-old who came to the United States as a child, became the first-ever undocumented immigrant to speak at a party convention when she introduced Obama endorser Cristina Saralegui to the stage Wednesday night.

Although Veliz spoke for only about two minutes, her speech was considered a major nod to the importance of immigration reform.

Veliz spoke about her own story, graduating high school as a valedictorian when she was 16 years old and then college at the age of 20.

“I feel just as American as any of my friends or neighbors,” Veliz said. “But I’ve had to live almost my entire life knowing I could be deported just because of the way I came here.”

Read more at the Huffington Post