Just days before he lectured a Catholic nun during his scripted town hall, undocumented immigrant youth protected from deportation by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program peacefully gathered outside the Janesville, Wisconsin church of Speaker Paul Ryan to call on him to stand up for immigrant youth.
It was just this past year that Ryan told a frightened Dreamer that if she was worried about “some deportation force coming, knocking on your door this year, don't worry about that.” But just days ago, that same immoral, mass deportation force swept up 22-year-old Riccy Enriquez Perdomo, despite the fact that she has valid DACA status.
So this past Sunday, dozens of immigrant youth from immigrant rights group Voces de la Frontera—“tired” of going to Ryan’s “empty office”—gathered outside his church after meeting with the priest to share their stories:
[DACA] allows some illegal immigrants who came to the United States as minors to earn a work permit and defer potential deportation.
“For many of us, that gave us hope,” said Cendi Trujillo. “That told us and personally me that working so hard is worth it. And going to college is going to be worth it because you're going to be able to put your degree to use.”
“Some of us are teachers,” Trujillo said. “Some of us are community organizers. Some of us are in college or some of us are part of the workforce. Either way, we are an asset to this country, and we are here to stay.”
"He has more power than other elected officials,” she continued. “He can clearly say, 'You know what? We are not going to take this program away that every single person who is rational knows has benefited this country.’”
According to the recent data, nearly 8,000 undocumented immigrant youth have DACA status in the state of Wisconsin. Nationally, 800,000 undocumented immigrant youth are protected by a program that lets them work legally, support their families and communities, and live free from deportation in the only country they call home.
Ryan has the power to protect the youth he told shouldn’t worry about being torn from their homes. He could endorse and allow the 2017 version of the DREAM Act—bipartisan legislation that would put DACA youth on a path to citizenship—to the floor for a vote. He could publicly call on Donald Trump to continue the DACA program, and he could not fund his mass deportation force. But he hasn’t done any of that, instead tweeting a godawful ad promoting Trump’s border wall just weeks after tweeting an empty “Immigrant Heritage Month” message.
While members of the church’s congregation expressed support for the youth this past Sunday, Ryan, per usual, was nowhere to be found.
Also in attendance at Sunday's protest was Cathy Myers, who is running in the Democratic Primary hoping to eventually unseat Ryan, a Republican, in the 1st District.
She said losing DACA would destroy families. She said the government with DACA made a promise to people, and taking that away would be “unconscionable.”
“More than half of us here are Catholic,” Trujillo continued. “We wanted to share Mass and communion and prayer with Paul Ryan, but, unfortunately, he wasn't here.”