The Daca Dream

Here is some essential information you need to know about the program that gives protection to undocumented migrants who came to the U.S. as children.

Pre-immigrant protesters in New York march near Trump Tower ahead of a decision that could see the U.S. president rescind a policy that protects hundreds of thousands of immigrants who entered the country illegally as children.

Recently, there has been controversy about DACA all over the news. This includes Trump’s decision to scrap DACA completely. So what does this mean? About 800,000 people could be deported from the United States. This threw many into utter shock, and fear for the future.

You might be wondering, what exactly is “DACA”? DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. This federal government program was created under Barack Obama, to protect the people who were illegally immigrated to the U.S. as children. The goal was to give them the temporary right to live, to excel, and work in America. These individuals were granted the name “Dreamers”. The people who are “dreamers”, came to the U.S. illegally when they were under 16. As of right now, they are protected under the law to stay in America, and most work hard to get an education. But in result of Donald Trump’s decision, in 2018, they are at risk of losing all protection, and will be deported back to their home country.

Imagine what it would feel like if everything was taken away from you, just like that. Your education, your home, the life you worked so hard to live. Gone. That’s what the Dreamers are feeling. With the DACA program, many individuals were on the path to gaining legal American citizenship. As of now, it will be much more difficult for them.

President Trump has been treating the DACA subject with sympathy, and voiced that dealing with the issue was difficult.

“We’re going to work something out that’s going to make people happy and proud,” Trump told TIME in an interview in November 2016. “They got brought here at a very young age, they’ve worked here, they’ve gone to school here. Some were good students. Some have wonderful jobs. And they’re in never-never land because they don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Then, Trump resorted back to his promise of terminating DACA completely.

“We will immediately terminate President Obama’s two illegal executive amnesties, in which he defied federal law and the constitution to give amnesty to approximately 5 million illegal immigrants,” Trump said at a campaign event in August 2016, promising to end DACA as well as Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents.

As of now, there is much confusion and mixed views on the issue. All I can say is that we can hope for the best for our country, and for safety and protection of the people in it.

“I arrived in the U.S concealed in darkness. I was 4 years old, unaware that my presence—and my parents’ yearning for a better life for me—constituted a crime.”

• Ms. Guzman, a dreamer who is a junior at CUNY

Find more information at:

https://unitedwedream.org/about/projects/deferred-action/

http://time.com/4927100/donald-trump-daca-past-statements/

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/04/donald-trump-what-is-daca-dreamers