My Expiration Date
Written by Valentina Hernandez
You may be asking how this all started. It was September 5, 2017 and I was sitting in an oval table with Senator Coons, fellow DACA students, and cameras. Suddenly the room stopped to listen in to senator Coons announce that Jeff Sessions had just decided the fate of DACA. The dreaded decision that DACA was to be rescinded with a six-month deadline given to congress for a new solution. New DACA applications would not be accepted and renewals would be cut off on March 5 with a month to renew. Out of the 77 DREAMERs at Delaware State University, I held the unluckiest expiration date: March 9.
My DACA expiration date was only four days after the cutoff date which made me unqualified for a renewal. March 9 was far from September but everyday that passed seemed like count down into one of the most uncertain times of my life. When the day would come, I would automatically lose my driver’s license which also serves as my state identification. Without my driver’s license, I couldn’t fly in the country or drive home. Luckily, I found friends who were kind enough to give me a ride all the way home to North Carolina. However, my employment status was still in question. When our DACA statuses expires, we lose the ability to work legally in the United States. At the moment of the rescindment, I held no job as I just had moved to Delaware. Not much to worry about, right? As a student in a completely new state, I had plans to find a local position to fulfill my everyday needs. With this action, I feared that there wouldn’t be a permanent solution and I would not be eligible for that position anymore when March 9 came around.
From March 5 and forward, it was estimated that 120 DACA recipients were going to lose their statuses every day; that is 43,000 people in one year. DACA was not only a protection from deportation but our lives. Many were able to get jobs, go into higher education, and most importantly contribute to the American economy. So why did President Trump decide to rescind DACA?
In the following months after September, Capitol Hill threw out bills in which senators and representatives would vote on, but none were passed neither in the House or Senate. You may be wondering what happened when March 9 came around?
In January 2017, the court battle between the Trump administration and DACA came to a [small] victory. Judge William Alsup ruled that DACA would have to continue its normal process of accepting renewals but with a small exception; no new applications being accepted yet. A big [small] victory for recipients like myself that will have the opportunity to at least renew one more time for a two-year permit. When this news came out, I quickly gathered as much information about when and how the applications will be taken. I also had to figure out how I would pay the $495 application fee plus shipping. I wasted no time in filling out the paperwork, getting passport photos, and mailing the application.
Three weeks later, I received a phone call from my family back home that I had received my new work permit which brought me relief. I still could not renew my license since I was 400 miles away, but I was in joy that when summer came, I could count on a job. When I finally had my card in my hands, I noticed that I only actually spent four days without any legal protection which may not seem so much now looking back. DACA has deemed beneficiary to all of its recipients and while the government has held us hostage for the past few years, I can proudly say this country is my home.