Dreamers and their families gathered at a dinner before the trip to the White House in Washington where they will defend the migratory relief DACA, when they are five years after its entry into force.
“We are going to fight with our teeth and nails for the DACA and Temporary Protection Status (TPS),” said Efe María Bilbao, activist of United We Dream, who along with other groups in favor of immigrants organize demonstrations for Next week in Washington.
Florida dreamers will join other states like Texas and New Mexico to ask in front of the White House to maintain the immigration relief created in 2012 by then-President Barack Obama.
Roberto Wong, a student who will travel to Washington, told Efe he would not be surprised if they removed DACA in light of the current rhetoric against the measure, which was joined by ten state prosecutors this year who called on President Donald Trump To finish it.
Wong, a mechanical engineering student, said that the DACA program has given their families peace of mind, but regretted that from the outset it has been a temporary measure that can leave them in “limbo” at any time.
“We are almost a million boys who can come out of the shadows, work, study, advance, integrate in this country,” he said.
The students recalled that next Tuesday August 15 will mark the fifth anniversary of a milestone, “when young immigrants could apply for DACA protection.”
Students and their families noted that during the last five years the program has provided them with the opportunity for higher education, jobs and more stability for their families and communities.
They also pointed out that TPS has helped more than 300,000 immigrants from Africa, Haiti, Central America and other countries that have suffered major disasters.
Meanwhile, the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (DACA) has protected about 800,000 undocumented students who were brought as children by their parents from deportation and given temporary legal status.
“We can not wait to get DACA taken away, the time to protect it is now,” said a score of dreamers who will leave for Washington on Saturday.
They criticized that the Trump government, along with right-wing Republicans, have threatened to end the DACA and the TPS, “which have served as vital protection for immigrant families.”
Immigrants regretted that the September 15 deadline for Trump by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and nine other state prosecutors to eliminate DACA is due to expire on 15 September.
