Last month, I was in Washington D.C. fighting for DACA. As someone who watched in awe during the Women’s March and wished I could have been there, I never thought I would actually be in the place where it all happened. And to be there fighting for another cause that desperately needs our time and attention.
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, known as DACA, is program that allows for children of immigrants who were brought here as small children to grow up in American society, work towards an education and obtain work permits, and eventually gain citizenship. Children who have been through the program have gone on to become registered nurses, teachers, and other important occupations that keep the everyday operations of American life alive.
But after the inauguration, President Donald Trump tweeted a plan to end the DACA program. This would mean the halting of new applicants to be accepted into the program and the halting of renewals that must take place every two years for recipients. DACA is supposed to be completely ended in March 2018 and all recipients who are eligible for benefits after that date will be the first to lose their DACA and be open to deportation.
For thousands of DACA recipients, the loss of this protection would also mean the loss of the only home that they have ever considered theirs and it would mean being ripped away from their families to be dropped off in a country that they have not seen since they were children.
It was incredibly inspirational to be on Capitol Hill, surrounded by these Dreamers (as DACA recipients are known), fighting for themselves and their families. Chants of “Si Se Puede” meaning Yes We Can filled the space as several speakers got up to deliver powerful words about themselves or loved ones who came to the U.S. as children and found their home and themselves in our country.
Representative Luis Gutierrez promised that he would not sign a budget bill that did not include a clean DREAM Act and protection for Muslims and LGBTQ+ community members, even if his lack of signature shut down the government. That is how much he believed in the power of immigrants and the necessity for a clean DREAM Act NOW.
After many speakers, we moved to face the Capitol building as several members from the rally sat on the steps, waving their green-gloved hands in protest. And one by one they were arrested for unlawful protesting. Cheers erupted when a member of a group was arrested, because for so many people there, being arrested wasn’t anything to be scared of. But losing their DACA was and it was scary enough to them that they lost all other fears.
I am so proud to have been afforded the opportunity to stand with these strong, proud people as they fought for their families, their homes, their heritage, and for themselves. I hope Congress knows that this issue isn’t going to go silently away. The Dreamers are not going away without first using up every bit of might that they have in order to get what they want.
After all they are immigrants and you know what they say? Immigrants get the job done.