Imagine coming home from work one evening and being told you had an hour to pack your things because you’re going on a trip. Now imagine this trip is to a totally foreign place that you know nothing about. Finally, imagine being told you’re never going back to the only home you’ve ever known, and being left in this unfamiliar place.
Sounds like something out of a Hollywood box office, right? Wrong. It’s reality and it is the possible fate of thousands of DACA kids living in the US, working and going to school and striving to build a future. DACA stands for deferred action against childhood arrivals and it was enacted by former president Barack Obama in 2012. It prevents the deportation of children whose parents brought them here illegally when they were children and gives them a chance to stay in the country they know and love.
On September 5th, the Trump administration rescinded the order, throwing into limbo the fate of thousands of Dreamers lives, and chance at a continuing to build their future. I could not imagine this kind of uncertainty, it is pure disregard and inhumanity against a group of individuals who had no idea what was happening when they came to America. They however, made America their own, they know our culture and our customs they go to school and they hold jobs to maintain the chance they feel so lucky to have.
In what world is it fair to tell people who were brought here unknowingly as children or babies that they have no place here and have to return to a country, a culture they know nothing about and have never been a part of. DACA kids went through rigorous tests, background checks and meet regular criteria to remain enrolled and many have earned higher education degrees, made advances in fields like medicine and engineering and have bought homes. Your neighbors, coworkers and classmates might be dreamers but you’d never know because they are Americans. They radiate the American dream and achievement and this decision is a crime against the American values this country was founded on, against these kids that call America their home and always have and against humanity itself. I stand with the dreamers and I urge anyone who believes otherwise to do research on DACA, talk to a dreamer and most of all imagine what your life would be like if your life was suddenly thrown aside because of a choice your parents made while you were in diapers.
