Immigrant advocates are pushing for lawmakers to pass immigration reform in 2014 after Congress left for holiday break without making headway on the issue. For months, immigrant advocates have also lobbied to halt deportations until Congress passes the reform bill. 

Over the weekend, House Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi echoed immigration activists' sentiments, according to US News & World Report. During an interview with Telemundo on Sunday, Pelosi urged the Obama administration to use more caution before deporting immigrants in the country illegally if they have not committed additional offenses. 

"Our view of the law is, if somebody is here without sufficient documentation, that is not reason for deportation. If someone has broken the law ... that is a different story," Pelosi said.

Immigrant groups were pleased by Pelosi's comments. "It is great. I hope that she is really pushing for the president to take action on this issue while we work for immigration reform," said Erika Andiola, a spokewoman for the Dream Action Coalition.

Andiola is no stranger to the threat of deportation. In January, her mother was detained and was threatened with being sent back to her home country. 

Andiola contacted her resources and began a campaign to stop her mother from being deported. Thousands of people called U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 40,000 signed a petition and congressman made calls on her behalf. 

Her mother was put on a bus to be deported, but the bus was turned around. "The problem is that a lot of people who don't have connections, they get deported and nobody really knows. Nobody finds out," Andiola says.

President Barack Obama has deported nearly 2 million immigrants since he has taken office, which is a rate that is expected to eclipse that of former President George W. Bush. 

Obama has said that he cannot unilaterally halt deportations, and said in a Telemundo interview in September that it would be "very difficult to defend legally."

However, the White House said that it is focusing deportations on criminals, not immigrants who are in the country illegally. 

His administration has put the blame on the Republican-led House of Representatives, which has not yet put forward an immigration bill. The Senate passed a bipartisan comprehensive reform bill in June. 

Yet, a Pew Research Survey found that only 48 percent of the 392,000 immigrants deported in 2011 were deported because they broke the law.