Dreamers

According to a poll by from UT Austin’s College of Liberal Arts titled “Most Important Problem Facing Texas February 2016”, the issue that troubles most Texans is immigration. Although this poll does not indicate whether this specifically refers to illegal immigration, instinctively, one assumes that it refers to it. The United States was founded by culturally diverse immigrants seeking better opportunities not only for themselves. They traveled to America for a better life for their posterity. Fast forward a couple of centuries. That dream persists today.

Dreamers are a small percentage of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants residing in the United States. Dreamers are young adults who were involuntarily brought to the United States as children by a parent or guardian. These devoted parents acted in the most logical way: to flee the repressing conditions of their native countries so that their children can thrive and dream.

Incidentally, the act of relocating to the United States to provide a better life to their young sons and daughters has quickly morphed into a nightmare for the Dreamers.

The sons and daughters are now men and women sitting in college classrooms, purchasing their first homes, building up their credit, contributing to the workforce as cooks, teachers, artists, nurses, and even a few lawyers. This is thanks to Barack Obama’s executive action named the “DACA program announced in 2012 as a way to address the professional barriers undocumented students in the U.S. face after graduation. DACA protects them against deportation and provides work authorization but is not permanent and doesn’t lead to citizenship”. This policy has transformed the lives of thousands of young adults because it has given them the opportunity to contribute to the only country that they identify as their own. This policy has restored the hope to those living as mere spectators. It has given many the opportunity to step out of the shadow and participate as real citizens of the community. Their economic and civic contributions so far prove that this group of immigrants who are undocumented deserve a pathway towards citizenship.

DACA (Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals) is now in peril of being terminated by the newly elected Donald Trump. The great advancements that thousands of dreamers have made in the last four years could mean absolutely nothing in the coming months. The remarkable strides towards the multigenerational dream that originally inspired those parents to make the difficult decision to risk everything and seek refuge here in the US will matter no more.

With a Republican president as leader of the United States, a Republican dominated House of Representatives, Senate, and state, the odds are against the most deserving group of undocumented immigrants.