Connecticut’s members of Congress and governor were quick to condemn the actions by the Trump Administration to end the program that allows children who were brought to America illegally to stay in the country.
On the merits of the program, Governor Dannel Malloy said DACA, which stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, was providing good outcomes in some of Connecticut’s largest cities.
"These are kids who we have fully educated in school systems like New Haven and Bridgeport and Stamford and quite frankly across our country," Malloy said during a press conference in New Haven.
"DACA was working," he added. "It was working extremely well."
At Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic, a group of about 150 protesters took to the campus to speak out against President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who made the announcement that DACA would wind down over the next six months.
Daniela Iniestra, a sophomore studying sociology, said she did not have the option to attend college in her home state of Georgia.
She was brought to America from Mexico when she was six and graduated high school in Athens, Georgia, the home of the University of Georgia. She said she wasn’t welcome at any public college in the Peach State.
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"Georgia doesn’t like 'dreamers'," Iniestra said. "They don’t offer the same opportunities. They shut down the door on us."
She found herself searching for a state with a college system that would be welcoming to someone like her. Iniestra identifies as a Mexican-American and even has three younger siblings who were all born in Georgia.
She said she had a feeling Trump would end DACA and said there is no justification for it.
"There is no logical reason why they would do this. There is no legit reason why they would take something like this away from us when it benefits not only the economy but it benefits everybody here," Iniestra said.
