Early Tuesday, just as The Signal was going to press, President Donald Trump (by tweet) and Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the beginning of the end of the Obama executive action that protected immigrants brought here illegally as children, calling on Congress to enact legislation to replace the now-rescinded policy.

Recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA), or Dreamers, were brought out of their shadows in 2012 after former President Barack Obama signed the executive order that granted legal permission for undocumented individuals who were brought into the United States as children to work as well as immunity against deportation.

Under Trump’s administration, Dreamers are being pushed back into the shadows due to the fear of him ending DACA which would result in the possibility of deportation. It is key to note that some, if not most, of these Dreamers have never known any other country as their home.

Trump was very vocal about putting an end to the program during his campaign, but his tone changed a little in April when he told the Associated Press (AP) that Dreamers should “rest easy” about his immigration policies. Specifically, he said that he was “not after the Dreamers, we are after the criminals.”

However, that was later proven wrong when Juan Manuel Montes, 23, was deported to Mexico even though he was a DACA recipient. Montes is just a single case out of many, where fellow Dreamers were also deported.

After the White House said that Trump would announce his decision on DACA this Tuesday, hundreds of tech companies and their leaders all over the country signed an open letter to Trump. The open letter, which can be found in Businessleadersdacaletter.com, expressed that they stand in solidarity with Dreamers in the hopes of the bipartisan DREAM Act legislation to be passed, or at least a variation of immigration reform.

The letter reads, “All DACA recipients grew up in America, registered with our government, submitted to extensive background checks, and are diligently giving back to our communities and paying income taxes.” Adding, “Unless we act now to preserve the DACA program, all 780,000 hardworking young people will lose their ability to work legally in this country, and every one of them will be at immediate risk of deportation.”

On Aug. 29, Congressman Jeff Denham (CA-10) met with Tomas Evangelista, a California State University, Stanislaus (Stan State), graduate and a Central Valley Dreamer, to reaffirm his support for the DACA program.

According to the Oakdale Leader, the Congressman implored all of his colleagues in Congress to work together in order to create and pass legislation that would protect DACA and its Dreamers in some way.

In an interview with the Oakdale Leader, Evangelista expressed how grateful he was for the DACA Program.

“The DACA Program changed my life. With DACA, I was able to graduate from [Stan State], give back to my community, pursue my dream of running track and field, and now work full time at a non-profit community organization,” Evangelista said.

Congressman Denham stressed to the Oakdale Leader that “Congress needs to act now to find a legislative solution for Dreamers who for years have been stuck in limbo.” He also added that “Recent events only highlight the urgency of determining a path forward for those young adults, and I will continue to fight for them to be able to stay in the only home they have ever known.”

Matthew Marquette, a Public Administration graduate student, explained the impact that DACA has had on the United States.

“[R]ecent studies by the Center for American Progress demonstrate that individuals protected under DACA contribute greatly to the U.S. economy as a whole. With this in mind, it seems as though cutting the program with no viable replacement seems like an unwise decision, and members of Trump’s party have expressed misgivings regarding [his] willingness to end the program,” Marquette explained.

Marquette stated the possibility of an outcome that could seem enticing to Trump if he was to cut DACA.

“However, such move is likely to bolster Trump’s standing amongst his constituents whom were attracted to his anti-immigrant rhetoric and will likely earn him political points with the xenophobic wing of the American political right,” Marquette added.
The fate of many hopefuls now rests on the shoulders of the United States Congress.
This cliffhanger’s outcome will not only change the lives of those directly impacted, but will change the country and the way that it handles immigration and education as a whole.
Please stay tuned to csusignal.com for this breaking news story.