by Barbara Nevins Taylor
Everything changed for Carolina when President Obama created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in 2012. Until then, she worried about what would happen to her when she graduated from Hunter College. Could she get a job? Would immigration officials kick her out? “I barely remember living in Mexico. I was seven when we came her and I consider myself an American. This is the only home I know,” she told ConsumerMojo.
Carolina, her mom, and her then-five-year-old sister entered the country legally from Mexico, but overstayed their visas. Her mom worked two jobs as a cleaner, and while Carolina took classes at Hunter, she and her sister cleaned restaurants at night. But DACA meant that the girls, like others in the same boat, could apply for work papers. It gave this generation of immigrants, “Dreamers,” legal status, although they had to renew every two years.
It also meant that Carolina, an aspiring photographer, could get a job in a well-known photo supply store and take more courses toward her college degree.
President Trump’s pledge to crackdown on immigrants, and his recent threats to do away with DACA, jeopardizes Carolina’s status and that of almost 800,000 other young people brought here by their parents before they they turned 16. Most identify as Americans.
We stand with the National Immigration Law Center others trying to communicate with the White House and members of Congress about the importance of these young immigrants.
ConsumerMojo.com championed the DACA program when President Obama issued his executive order. We published videos
and guides to applying for the program and encouraged young people to come out of the shadows.
That’s why we felt encouraged when we heard House Speaker Paul Ryan say he doesn’t think the program should end.
When Ryan was asked on WCLO in Janesville, Wisconsin, about the possibility that Trump would end DACA, he said, “I don’t think he should do that.” And he went on to say, “I believe that is something Congress has to fix.”
Republican Senator Orin Hatch,
from Utah, in a statement said, “I’ve urged the President not to rescind DACA, an action that would further complicate a system in serious need of a permanent, legislative solution. Like the President, I’ve long advocated for tougher enforcement of our existing immigration laws. But we also need a workable, permanent solution for individuals who entered our country unlawfully as children through no fault of their own and who have built their lives here. And that solution must come from Congress.”
White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Trump would announce his decision on Tuesday. We hope he makes the right one.
