My parents moved our family to the United States when I was five years old. They made this major decision to leave the only country they had ever known because they wanted my brother and me to have a better life than we would have had in Mexico. My dad has worked as a bricklayer since the first day we arrived in the U.S., and he continues to do that today. He sacrificed his better job in Mexico to come here for us. My mom cleans houses for low pay to bring in extra money that we need for everyday things. My parents sacrificed everything so my brother and I can live a good life here.
We have always lived in the shadows… just like millions of other families living in the U.S.. We’ve never stepped out of line or broken any laws during the years we’ve lived here. We’ve never been the type to brag about the little we do have because we knew that other families like ours had less. We’ve done our best to stay out of the light of others who didn’t agree with our undocumented status, so we’ve kept to ourselves most of the time.
When my brother and I applied for the DACA program and both got accepted, it was very emotional. We could finally step out of the shadows just a bit, and we were finally able to help our parents. My brother and I have worked tirelessly in school to get good grades and high GPAs so we could get enough scholarships to pay for college. Sadly, that did not go our way. Even though we both had DACA, we still weren’t citizens. We couldn’t receive any financial aid, couldn’t apply for loans, and couldn’t receive any types of grants. By working, saving money, and through the help of our parents, we were able to get our education at Murray State so that we could eventually obtain degrees. I thought we were going to be able to step out of the shadows completely. A few weeks ago, all that changed.
Photo by Courtney Hedger on Unsplash
Ever since the 2016 election, I have been scared about my future. When campaigning, Donald Trump promised his supporters that he would deport all of the illegal immigrants in this country to “Make America Great Again.” He promised to get rid of everything Barack Obama did during his presidency. One of the things Trump wanted to get rid of was the Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals program, (DACA for short). Obama created this program in 2012 in order to protect undocumented immigrants that had been living in the United States. For an undocumented immigrant to apply for DACA, they had to be meet the following requirements: be at least 15 years old, be enrolled in school, have lived in the United States since June 2007, have been in the United States before the age of 16, and have no criminal record. Luckily for me, I met all of these requirements and was able to apply. The application alone is $495, and then it depended on how much the immigration lawyer charged on top of that. I paid almost $700 the first time I applied for DACA and then again when I recently renewed it in February. So, in total, I have paid $1,290 for a work permit that allows me to work, get my driver’s license, and help my family with everyday struggles. I would say that it’s definitely worth the money to be able to help my family and to not be afraid anymore.
I’m not the only one that has had the opportunity to help their families. There are about 800,000 more “DACAmented” individuals that have been in the same situation as me, and now we are faced with another obstacle in our lives.
Rumors started floating around that the administration had made up their mind and had decided to end DACA. When I read this on Twitter, I was genuinely terrified. Not only for myself, but all the other Dreamers in the same position. My world began to fall apart. What was I going to do without my driver’s license? Is my family going to be ripped apart? Would I be able to finish my education? All of these questions started running through my mind and I didn’t know what was going to happen. My parents told my brother and me to have faith and hope for the best. How could we when this administration had made it clear that they do not want us here? The United States of America is the only country I have known as my home. I barely remember my life back in Mexico. I have made friendships here that are going to last a lifetime, and I don’t want to leave it all behind. I have my whole life ahead of me. My future plans never included going back to Mexico permanently.
I was hoping and praying that the rumors weren’t true, but we don’t get everything we want. On Tuesday, September 5, 2017, General Attorney Jeff Sessions made the announcement that the Trump Administration was going to end the DACA program in six months and wait to see if Congress was going to fix it in the meantime. I was devastated while watching the announcement on the news. There were many things I felt: anger, sadness, helplessness, defeat.
I felt angry because I couldn’t understand why these people in office were trying to ruin something that actually works. I felt sadness because I wasn’t the only one in this situation, feeling like this. I felt helplessness and defeat because we fought so hard to get this program created and now it was going to be destroyed after only 5 years.
Even though this unfortunate event happened, we still have to fight. Through the long, hard fight immigrant activists had while advocating for the DACA program’s creation, we will do the same now. My family and I stood in the shadows for too long, and I’m not going back.
I will stay out in the sunlight and fight for my rights.
If you would like to learn more about DACA and support DACA, follow @undocumedia on Twitter and @unitedwedream on Instagram for more information.