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Wyoming college presidents have bucked their congressional delegation to issue a letter in support of undocumented immigrant youth who stand to have their lives upended if the bipartisan DREAM Act is not passed soon. Republican Sens. John Barrasso and Mike Enzi and Congresswoman Liz Cheney all supported Donald Trump ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, but like Trump, none of them know and work with undocumented youth. But the presidents of seven community colleges and the University of Wyoming do:
“The young adults enrolled in our colleges who are in jeopardy of being deported are Wyoming’s youth,” the presidents wrote. “Their hopes and dreams include futures in Wyoming. We know them and we know their stories.”
The letter — sent to the Star-Tribune late last week — cites not only the young people’s ties to Wyoming but also what they can add to a state with an aging population and a labor force that’s been depleted recently as workers leave to escape a struggling economy.
While Wyoming has one of the nation’s smaller DACA populations at 620, these are American kids nonetheless who contribute to their communities and state, and must be given a chance to continue their education and lives.
“All my roommates were in class, and I’m the only one in my friends group that has that status, so all of a sudden, I felt very alone,” said Wyoming DACA recipient Jessica Gutierrez-Gaytan following Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III making the DACA announcement. Gutierrez-Gaytan came to the U.S. when she was just three years old and is now 19.
“I was worried that I wasn’t going to be able to finish school,” she continued. “I just broke down into tears and didn’t really know what my reaction should be. Should I be positive, and look forward to the future? Or should I freak out and become an activist? What do I do? With all this going through my head, all I could do was stare at the TV—I was frozen for a second. There was nothing in my power I could do to change anything.”
“Whenever he said he wanted to end it, it was heartbreaking because I didn’t feel like he had a lot of sympathy, and he didn’t show a lot of emotion for how it would impact us,” said Jicell Gracia-Ortiz, another Wyoming DACA recipient and college student studying nursing. “So for him to say we don’t have anything to worry about, I don’t know. It brings mixed emotions because I’m not sure if he does mean that or not.”
Still, that doesn’t change what she feels inside for sure. “I am not an American on paper, but I am at heart,” she said.