The Trump administration announced its decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration policy in early September, affecting the lives of college and university students across the nation.
DACA previously allowed undocumented immigrants who came to America before they turned 18 to apply for work permits and deferred action status, Shirena Trujillo Long, coordinator of El Centro de Muchos Colores, said.
Deferred action status doesn’t provide immigrants legal status but instead delays deportation, which allows immigrants to remain in the U.S. to work and get an education, Danny Quinlan, executive director of Compañeros, the Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center, said.
“It's a way for children, who came here because of their parents, to reside, live, work, educate themselves legally, and be recognized by the state," Michael Dichio, professor of political science at FLC, said.
DACA is an executive order that was created by former President Barack Obama in 2012 to grant deferred action status to people who immigrated to the U.S. as children.
There are approximately 800,000 DACA recipients in the nation. Of those people, 120,000 live in Texas and 17,000 live in Colorado, Long said.
DACA Recipients
Daisy Taylor, a Fort Lewis College student from the border town of Laredo, Texas, said that many college and university students in her hometown use DACA to allow them to stay in the U.S. in order to earn degrees.
One of Taylor’s childhood friends is a student who uses DACA and is in the final year of earning her business degree from Texas A&M University, she said.
Taylor’s friend called her crying when the news that DACA was being rescinded was announced, she said.
“My friend, she’s so scared, she's thinking about going back to Mexico herself,” Taylor said. “She's from Oaxaca, where they killed a lot of teachers not that long ago, so she's scared of that.”
Many people who travel illegally to the U.S. from Mexico come in order to better themselves or to live in a safer environment, she said.
“We talk about immigrants, but in most cases we’re talking about people who are refugees,” Quinlan said. “They might be refugees from an actual war zone that the U.S. recognizes as a war zone, like Syria, or they might be from a war zone between drug cartels. They might be economic refugees coming from a place where it's not possible to make a decent living, it's not possible to feed your kids.”
Impact at FLC
Marissa Molina, a FLC alumna who graduated in 2014, is one of the more famous undocumented students, Long said.
Molina was an ASFLC senator and an active student on campus but her undocumented status was a well-kept secret when she attended FLC, Long said.
After she graduated, Molina came out about her undocumented status and she has been a role model for others since she won the Washington Congressional Award for excellence and is in the Teach for America program, Long said.
Many people don’t realize there are DACA recipients and undocumented people living in their neighborhoods and communities. However, it is impossible to know how many people are affected by DACA or who may be undocumented in the FLC community, Long said.
DACA recipients lives have been upended and they are scared about what is to come, Long said.
President Donald Trump gave Congress six months to figure out a way to replace DACA, Long said. Until then, many people remain uncertain of their futures, she said.
“At Fort Lewis, at public schools here, there's definitely people who are DACAmented and undocumented all over the place.” Quinlan said.
The DREAM Act
One of the potential immigration policy replacements for DACA is the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, Long said.
“I believe that the good thing that can happen after DACA was rescinded is that Congress might come together and just darn well pass the DREAM Act,” she said.
The DREAM Act would allow undocumented minors to live without fear of deportation, and could potentially provide them a path to citizenship, Long said.
The DREAM Act would be permanent, unlike DACA, because it would be more than an executive order it would be law, Long said.
Long is doubtful however that Congress can pass something in the six months they have and she doesn’t have much hope for the future, she said.
“I think that the future is looking more xenophobic, more racist and more bigoted, and I'm sad about that,” she said.
Congress has not been successful at passing the DREAM act in former years, Dichio said.
When Congress failed to pass the DREAM Act, Obama created the DACA program, Dichio said.
Rescinding DACA
The Trump administration said, Trump decided to rescind DACA after several attorneys general threatened to challenge DACA in court if he had not taken action by Sept. 5.
DACA is an executive order so it was Trump’s decision to keep it or not, he said.
“There are 10 state attorneys general and one governor who got together and they said to the Trump administration, you have until Sept. 5 to get rid of this program,” Quinlan said.
The Trump administration said it decided to rescind the act with a six-month grace period.
If a person’s DACA status expires between Sept. 5 and March 5, it can be renewed for two more years, he said.
If a person’s DACA status expires after March 5, it cannot be renewed, and the person can be deported, Quinlan said.
For now, DACA recipients must wait on Congress to create a new immigration policy.
Actions in Durango
In Durango, Compañeros, an immigrant resource center in Durango, is advocating for those affected by DACA and looking for a permanent solution to replace DACA, Quinlan said.
At FLC, President Dene Thomas signed a statement in support of DACA, along with 600 other college and university presidents.
Club del Centro, a student organization that promotes cultural diversity, is educating students about this issue and asking them to contact their senators and representatives to express outrage at the decision to rescind DACA, Long said.
One program in Colorado that helps undocumented students get an education is the Advancing Students for a Stronger Economy Tomorrow bill, she said.
ASSET allows undocumented students to pay in-state tuition at public colleges, Long said. If students have attended a high school in the U.S. for three years and graduated, they are qualified for ASSET at FLC, she said.
ASSET does not address immigration status, but it does allows undocumented students to apply to pay in-state tuition at Colorado public colleges.
It is important for students to be educated, and it is important for them to act on these issues that affect their peers, Long said.
“FLC students should be interested about this issue because it's our country and because it's an entire population of youth, just like them, who just weren't born here,” she said.
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