President Barack Obama's new immigration plan is bringing relief to at least one Bay area family, whose members have lived in Tampa for 18 years in fear of being torn apart.

Leslie Reyes is 18 years old and just getting ready to start school at Hillsborough Community College in April.  She says growing up, she always thought she was just like every other kid at her school.

“My whole childhood I basically lived with not knowing anything," she said. "I thought, 'Oh, everybody’s the same.'"

But that all changed for Reyes in middle school. She had been a good student, and so she started thinking ahead to college. When she asked her mom and dad for her Social Security number, her life changed.

“My dad actually sat down with me and said, 'Okay, you’re not a U.S. citizen, you don’t qualify for many things that other people do,' ” Reyes said.

She said that's when it hit her that she may not be able to do all the things she’d planned on.  

That day, she also learned about her parents' potential fate, and she learned about deportation. Reyes says she would go to school every day, not knowing if her parents would be there when she got home.  

“That’s really heartbreaking, just tearing families apart," she said.

The Reyes family was tuned in to President Obama’s announcement Thursday night. Her mother, father and all of her siblings, who have been living in Tampa for the last 18 years, qualify for Obama's program.

Now, the fear of their family being torn apart is eased, but Reyes says that fear isn't eased for everyone in her situation, and she hopes the critics can see that too.

“Just imagine your family being torn away," she said. "That’s really heartbreaking.  It doesn’t even have to be your mom or your dad, you could get siblings taken away from you, aunts, uncles, just think about that.  It’s really heartbreaking.”

Reyes' parents are working on getting documentation together to prove how long they’ve been living in Tampa with their family.  Their next step is to find an attorney to help them through the process.