With Congress gridlocked, advocates say it’s up to state and local lawmakers to protect the undocumented elderly

CHICAGO — Long ago, Veronica Ortega gave up hope that federal immigration reform would come and pave a path to citizenship for her and her husband.

Ortega, 51, immigrated to the Chicago area from Mexico more than two decades ago with her husband, Alfonso Vazquez, and their children, Janeth and Omar. In 2012, her children gained deportation protections and work permits under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

But she and her husband have no such protections. They both work at factories in the western suburbs and collectively clock more than 100 hours a week. The couple shares a single-story corner ranch house in Maywood with their daughter and son-in-law. Despite paying taxes that help fund programs such as Medicare and Social Security, Ortega and Vazquez know that they’ll never be able to access their benefits, and they doubt federal lawmakers will do anything to improve their situation.

“To be honest, I’ve never been hopeful that there would be immigration reform to help us. Every time it is mentioned, I remind myself that it’s all politics — that they use