Monarch butterflies, passionate activists and “We are here” signs have all become symbols of marches and protests calling for the defense of the presidential administration. DACA recipients I have been exiled for the past 12 years.
Saturday marks the 12th anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, established in 2012 by the Obama administration.
Greisa Martinez Rosas, executive director of United We Dream, recalled when she received news of the DACA announcement in 2012. “I’ve never felt so powerful. I’ve never felt so humble. I’ve never felt so happy,” she said.
At age 7, Rosas crossed the Rio Grande River on the U.S.-Mexico border with his parents. She lived as an undocumented immigrant in Texas and later worked as a community organizer, where she rallied support urging the Obama administration to protect Dreamers.
But after DACA went into effect, Rosas said she waited about a year because she was afraid to apply. She believed that by providing her own personal information, immigration officials would deport her undocumented mother.
“I remember holding my work permit in my hand,” Rosas said. “It was a bit disappointing because it was just a piece of paper. It was a piece of plastic and it felt like when you got your Social Security number. It’s just a number on a piece of paper, but it means a lot.”
Rosas’ work permit allowed her to leave her job selling cars and become a full-time advocate for United We Dream, a nonprofit immigrant advocacy group.
This is a job she still holds 12 years later, and calls for legal protections for DACA recipients under the program. declared illegal The company’s future remains uncertain as the legal battle continues in 2021.
Like Rosas, Astrid Silva, a Dreamer with the immigrant advocacy group Dream Big Nevada, has been the face of the DACA movement as a community organizer since 2009. She worked closely with elected officials to advocate for the needs of people who were brought to the United States as children. .
Silva recalls the day DACA was announced. “I still remember the excitement, and the optimism of what this would come with,” Silva recalls.
Silva crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally with his parents at the age of four, and from a very young age he can remember not sharing the privileges of his classmates.
“I remember being so scared of my 18th birthday,” Silva said, recalling that like most of her friends, she couldn’t get an official government ID or license.
Now Silva reminds so-called “dreamers” not to take their status for granted.
“What I ask is that you don’t give up and don’t settle for a two-year temporary contract.” Silva said. “A permanent fix is needed.”
Rosas and Silva are just two of the more than 500,000 people currently actively benefiting from the DACA policy. They help form a small group of Dreamers who have organized their communities and delivered pleas to Washington lawmakers for more than 12 years.
“No matter what the outcome of the election is, I will remain here,” Rosas said. “This is my home and I have to keep fighting.”
With immigration among voters’ top issues ahead of the November election, both Republicans and Democrats are campaigning on proposed policies regarding undocumented immigrants and the future of DACA.
President Biden last week issued an executive order Restrict asylum claims for undocumented immigrants at the southern border. source He also spoke to CBS News on Friday. The Biden administration is said to be preparing an immigration relief program that would provide work permits and deportation protection to illegal immigrants married to U.S. citizens if they have lived in the U.S. for at least 10 years.
The Biden administration is also preparing a second plan to streamline the process for requesting waivers to make it easier for Dreamers and other undocumented immigrants to obtain temporary visas, such as H-1B visas for high-skilled workers, the people said. do.
Ahead of DACA’s 12th anniversary, the Biden-Harris campaign released Spanglish ads titled “Here to Stay” across battleground states. It includes a Dreamers compilation that contrasts Biden’s immigration record with that of former President Donald Trump.
The campaign also ran a second ad on Friday titled “Standing with Dreamers,” in which Vice President Kamala Harris criticized Trump’s immigration policies while emphasizing her commitment to protecting Dreamers.
“The former president’s policies on immigration are cruel and ineffective,” Harris argued.
In 2017, when President Trump announced the end of DACA, he issued a statement saying, “I do not favor punishing children, most of whom are now adults, for the actions of their parents. But we must also recognize that we are a nation of opportunity.” . Because we are a country ruled by law.”
At the time, President Trump said he looked forward to working with Congress to address immigration issues. Now, as part of his re-election campaign, Trump promised After taking office, mass deportations begin.
“We are launching the largest domestic deportation operation in the history of our country,” President Trump told the crowd at the Turning Point Action town hall in Arizona on the 6th (local time).
A recent report found that the mass deportation proposal now enjoys bipartisan support among registered voters. CBS News Poll. Nearly 6 in 10 voters said they would, in principle, favor a new government program that would deport all undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. A similarly sized majority would allow local law enforcement agencies to try to identify people living in the United States illegally.
— Camilo Montoya-Galvez and Anthonly Salvanto contributed to this report..
