Immigration rights activists and lawmakers came together on Monday to call for a so-called clean DACA Act.
With today being the deadline for the US Congress to come up with a DACA deal, Dreamers are urging Connecticut lawmakers to stand up for young undocumented immigrants.
Nearly 800,000 people who were brought to the US as infants and children could be impacted and now the concern is that Dreamers are on borrowed time as Congress, so far, has failed to make a decision.
Jose Diaz of New Britain is originally from Mexico. He is a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. He graduated from Central Connecticut State University in December and now works a full-time job.
The 25-year-old who came to the US with his parents and younger brother 15 years ago said his future is now in question after President Trump announced last September that today would be the deadline for a DACA deal.
“It’s always a question of what’s going to happen and not knowing that something could get done,” Said Jose Diaz, a DREAMer.
His work permit through DACA expires in the spring of 2019. That means he may be deported then if the federal government doesn’t make a legislative fix.
It’s a similar situation for many other DACA recipients, like Camila Bortolletto, who is originally from Brazil.
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“DACA gave me the opportunity to dream of my future and to dream of what I wanted to be and now I see all that in danger of going away,” she said.
Bortoletto is the founder of Connecticut Students for a Dream, an organization that works for the rights for undocumented youth in the state.
She along with other DACA recipients gathered today at Hartford’s Legislative Office Building to calling on Connecticut to take action.
U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal said he plans to seek immediate action from Congress to protect Dreamers from a mass deportation.
“Court orders are in place that assure them renewal of their applications and status but that process can take three to four months and in the meantime they are at risk of losing their jobs and potential deportation,” Said the Senator.
U.S. Senator Chris Murphy released the following statement on Monday, the deadline President Trump unlawfully and unilaterally declared as the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
“Dreamers and their loved ones woke up this morning with pits in their stomachs, and there’s no one to blame but President Trump. He created this crisis by arbitrarily declaring today as the end of DACA. Despite some reprieve from the courts, more and more Dreamers are losing status each day,” said Murphy. “I’ve met so many incredible Dreamers in Connecticut and all they want is a chance to work hard and make a future in the only country they’ve ever called home. It’s time for President Trump and Republicans in Congress to stop playing politics with their lives.”
