A DACA recipient qualified for the Olympics but rules say he can't leave the U.S. Now, he's been cleared to go to Tokyo.

When Luis Grijalva finished second in the men's 5,000-meter final at the NCAA track and field championships earlier this summer, he thought he had finally overcome every obstacle to make it to the Tokyo Olympics. But then he realized one major problem — he wasn't allowed to leave the U.S. 

Grijalva, a track star at Northern Arizona University, earned a personal best of 13:13:14 during that race, fast enough to qualify to represent his home country, Guatemala, at this year's Games. But as a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, better known as DACA, he cannot leave the country.  In most circumstances, recipients of DACA — an Obama-era policy to protect hundreds of thousands of immigrants who came to the U.S. when they were kids — are not permitted to return if they leave the U.S. But Grijalva has spent weeks petitioning the government to make an exception for his Olympic debut.