The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Tuesday on President Donald Trump’s decision to end the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
“Depending on how the court rules, it could have devastating consequences,” Eliana Fernández said in an interview, according to CBS News. “I would lose my protection against deportation, my opportunity to work, I would lose the opportunity to support my children.”
DACA currently protects about 700,000 undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. Most DACA recipients have lived in the U.S. most of their lives and attend American public schools and colleges.
Under the program, DACA recipients had to have arrived in the U.S. before they were 16 and lived in the country since at least 2007. The program protects them from deportations and allows them to work in the country.
“We’re able to contribute to the economy – not only by working and paying taxes, but we also travel, we consume and we have families now,” said Saira Barajas, a 26-year-old DACA recipient from Los Angeles.
The Cato Institute estimates that if DACA ends, the U.S. could lose hundreds of billions of dollars in economic growth over the next 10 years.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump promised to end DACA, but he also said, “it’s one of the most difficult subjects I have because you have these incredible kids — in many cases, not in all cases.”
“I would tell them that I’m just a human being who came to this country looking for better opportunities,” said Carolina Fung Feng. “I haven’t done anything wrong. I belong in this country. This is the place that I grew up in and where my friends and family are.
“I belong here,” she said.
Another DACA recipient Diana Pliego said she agrees.
“This is my home. This is the place that I want to continue living in. This is where I have built everything that I know,” she said. “To put me at risk to go back to a place that I don’t know and that isn’t home, it’s just not right.”
Photo courtesy: Getty Images/Spencer Platt/Staff, Immigration advocates attending a rally outside of Trump Tower along Fifth Avenue on August 15.
Comments are closed.