One year ago, President Trump ended the popular and successful DACA program, sending the lives and futures of hundreds of thousands of Dreamers into uncertainty and anxiety.
The following is a statement from Juan Escalante, DACA recipient and Communications Manager at America’s Voice, in reflection:
Despite the best efforts of President Trump one year ago, the DACA program still lives thanks to a series of legal rulings that stand up for Dreamers and allow program renewals to continue. But, then and now, hundreds of thousands of aspiring Americans still need Congress to get serious about a permanent legislative solution.
Dreamers are Americans. We grew up in the United States, graduated from U.S. schools, and are contributing to local communities. But we are simply lacking a piece of paper making our status official. The strong majority of the country recognizes this and wants Congress to follow through on their promises to fix our predicament.
Unfortunately, too many Republicans in Congress promised to deliver for Dreamers but failed to follow through. Or they made their support for Dreamers conditional on the passage of a Stephen Miller wishlist of policies that would terrorize the rest of the immigrant community — including members of our families. At the end of the day, talk is cheap, especially to those of us who wake up every morning knowing that our livelihood in the United States might come to an end after a piece of plastic in our wallet expires.
Now, the best chance we have to enact legislation that Dreamers need and the country deserves is to flip control of Congress and to elect leaders who stand with Dreamers, the overwhelming majority of Americans, and a vision of a more inclusive America.
