In a viral Twitter thread, Juan Escalante, a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient and immigrant rights activist with America’s Voice, explained the uncertainty immigrant youth are going through as Donald Trump plays with their lives and continues to leave the future of the program up in the air.
Throughout the past few weeks, numerous rumors and leaks about the program’s fate have continued to leave 800,000 immigrant youth in anxiety, despite the overwhelming bipartisan support for DACA and allowing immigrant youth to stay in the only country they’ve ever called home.
“For the past five years Dreamers have relied on DACA to live with a sense of normalcy,” Escalante tweeted. “Now all that time and investment into ‘normalcy’ may be crushed”:
“We keep wondering about our futures,” Escalante continues. “What will happen to our car leases, mortgages, student loans, relationships, degrees?”
Escalante:
“Please take care of yourselves,” Escalante tells his fellow DACA recipients. “And if you’re an ally, please take care of Dreamers now more than ever.” In a second viral Twitter thread, immigrant rights activist Ciriac Alvarez clears up misconceptions about undocumented immigrants and DACA, writing that the program “is not a pathway to citizenship but temporary relief, one that is under attack. There is currently no pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants like me”:
The fact is, the September 5 DACA deadline is nothing more than a manufactured crisis set up by Texas and a handful of other states. DACA is alive and lawful, and should and can be continued. Immigrant youth trusted the federal government with their information, and it’s our duty to make sure we stick with our end of the deal.
Within the past few days, there’s also been a sea change of bipartisan legislators joining with the American public in support of DACA—they must do their jobs and pass the DREAM Act while DACA continues. And remember that despite the numerous rumors, the administration has announced no final decision on DACA yet, so keeping putting the pressure on the administration and defend DACA. Nothing’s official until it’s official.