Dreamers (2017)
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was an American immigration policy that allowed some individuals who entered the country as minors, and had either entered or remained in the country illegally, to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and to be eligible for a work permit. As of 2017, approximately 800,000 individuals—referred to as Dreamers after the DREAM act bill, were enrolled in the program created by DACA. The policy was established by the Obama administration in June 2012 and rescinded by the Trump administration in September 2017.
In November 2014 President Barack Obama announced his intention to expand DACA to cover additional illegal immigrants. But multiple states immediately sued to prevent the expansion, which was ultimately blocked by the courts. The United States Department of Homeland Security rescinded the expansion on June 16, 2017, while continuing to review the existence of the DACA program as a whole. The DACA policy was rescinded by the Trump administration on September 5, 2017, but full implementation of the rescission was delayed six months to give Congress time to decide how to deal with the population that was previously eligible under the policy.
Research shows that DACA increased the wages and labor force participation of DACA-eligible immigrants, and reduced the number of unauthorized immigrant households living in poverty. Studies have shown that DACA increased the mental health outcomes for DACA-eligible immigrants and their children. There are no known major adverse impacts from DACA on native-born workers' employment while most economists say that DACA benefits the U.S. economy. To be eligible for the program, recipients may not have felonies or serious misdemeanors on their records. There is no evidence that DACA-eligible individuals are more likely to commit crimes than any other person within the US. -Wikipedia.
I’ll start out by saying Thanks Obama. Truly.
DACA is a small effort in the right direction to fix a really fucked up situation in America.
The Trump administration is trying to remove DACA, which will be detrimental.
Fuck ICE. Fuck Deportation. Fuck racial profiling. And fuck you if you are anti-immigration.
I remember my friends listening to Mexican radio stations when I was younger and them telling me that the DJs were talking about ICE raid warnings in nearby cities. Even as a kid I couldn’t really wrap my head around a human being being ‘illegal’ no matter how they came to America. This country isn’t ours, it never has been. This country was born from thievery and murder.
I have always had an issue with borders. I understand that other countries have stricter immigration laws, and that’s part of my issue with the laws in America. People have always been secretly ‘pro immigrant’. Farmers can pay undocumented immigrants under the table at a fraction of what their work is worth.
I can talk to you all day about why I support immigration and DACA in America, but I have never experienced what it’s truly like to be known as an ‘illegal’. I have never know what it feels like to be treated differently because the color of my skin or the status of my citizenship.
The following has been given to me to share anonymously. I am privileged enough to be able to say and write about whatever I want. Some people can't do that for reasons that could tear their families apart. This is being shared in hopes of giving you some insight on what it’s like to live in fear. Most American’s don’t worry that their partners may not come home after work. Most American’s don’t have to have a back up plan to move to a foreign country if their partner is ripped away from them. Read this. It’s important. It’s hard to put ourselves in the position of others, but try, while reading, to imagine yourself, your child, your best friend or your partner existing every day with a fear that no human being should ever have to know.
Sure we all live in fear, but the fear I have is different. It’s the unknown. My husband could not come home one day and I would have no way to contact him, nor have any idea about where he is or where he’s being taken. That is scary. These thoughts keep me up at night and make me hold my breath every day until I see him walk through our front door. This is what it’s like to be married to a Dreamer.
We have been together for almost a decade and you would think it would get easier but it doesn’t. Especially considering who has been elected as ‘president’. A TV personality is running our country and has a say as to whether my husband can work and live here safely and comfortably. That is truly terrifying! We dated for over a year before he told me his story. He then told my grandparents, and I told my parents. They have been beyond supportive and I can’t thank them enough.
He was brought over as a child at around 7 years old. He remembers bits and pieces and blocks out what he doesn’t want to remember, but can you blame him? How many of us Americans can say we have gone through something so terrifying at a mere 7 years old. That’s the age of a child attending kindergarten, and he crossed into this country illegally with his mom and 2 younger siblings at this age. He cried just telling me these bits and pieces and I cried with him. I can’t even imagine going through what he has gone through. He is the oldest and was told to hold onto his sibling’s hand and not let go NO MATTER WHAT. That’s what he did while his mom carried his other infant sibling. They made it, and now he’s getting punished for being here when he went to school and graduated here, he grew up here, he works here, pays taxes and is still living in fear because of a decision he didn’t make. Any parent would do whatever it takes to give their child a better life and I admire his mom so much for that! But now why is this child that was brought over for a better life getting penalized? He and his family have never lived off the state like so many people assume, which I wish I could say the same for even some people in my distant family that chose to pop out kids just to live off the state and not work… and they are white. My husband has always worked 2 jobs with sometimes doesn’t have a day off for months. He is the hardest working man other than my father and grandfather, that I know. He has never had anything handed to him and he goes out and works his ass off every single day and still doesn’t know if it will all be worth it someday.
He is a Dreamer.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, known as DACA, allows two-year stays for certain undocumented immigrants who entered the country before their 16th birthday who have attended school or joined the military and have not committed any serious crimes.
They receive a renewable two-year period of deportation protections and eligibility for a work permit.
What people don’t realize is it’s not as easy as they think to become legal citizen. People assume you just go get married and take the citizenship test and boom you are legal. It takes him renewing his DACA every 2 years to be able to work. It also costs $1,000 every time he renews, with prices going up every year. He also can’t have any tattoos/piercings or committed any crimes, which he has not. He has no criminal record, no tattoos or piercings and speaks fluent English. He has only ever gotten one traffic ticket which is more than I can even say for myself. Now that we are married we can take another step in the right direction. That however costs about $6,000 and can take 2-4 years to complete which he will have to renew his DACA again in that time frame as well. What am I going to do when I am here stuck in the states and he is down there going through this process with not even knowing how long to expect it to take? I have to continue to work to pay rent and keep things as normal as I can here. But how am I going to pay these bills on my own income especially these days?! Why not make this process easier and make these fees so high? It’s a lot of money even for someone working 2 jobs and I’m working full time as well. During this process he also has to go to where he was born and sit in front of a panel of judges basically and prove why he should be in the United States, and they have the say so if they want to let him back in and grant his petition or to just say no. If they say no he can’t come back and is stuck there. If that happens I’ve already made my mind up I will be moving there to be with him. That is so unnerving to know that my husband’s fate of coming back to where he grew up and lived most of his life, is up to the decision of strangers and how he looks on paper. One person could not like what they see and just say no and that’s it. His fate is literally in their hands. They even require me to have a mental evaluation done and for me to basically say I am dependent on him and can’t live without him, which I am happy to say because it’s the truth! I would love to go with him during this process and be his support system in person but he doesn’t want me to go because of my safety. The reason is because Mexico is so dangerous and I don’t know a word of Spanish. He even told me I would have to wear dirty ripped up clothing to this area because I could be kidnapped for being an American woman and have to blend in as much as possible. That is scary. He has to go to somewhere he hasn’t even been for 20 years.
Have kids they said.
Our lawyer told us our best fighting chance was to hurry and have as many kids as possible to better his chances. Now how fucked up is that?! Most people may say ‘ok let’s go have kids if the lawyer told us to just for the sake of having kids’. What if we did and he got sent over there and couldn’t come back and here I am a single mother raising these kids I wasn’t ready for? Sure moms do it every day, I was even raised by a single mom and it is tough I give them props and admire them. I’m not ready for that though. We decided awhile back to wait to have kids on our own terms when we are ready. Mind you, we also didn’t get married until we were together for over 5 years because he didn’t want people to assume we were getting married just so he could become a legal citizen, which a lot of people do. Since many people do that, we have to prove our love is real and we aren’t just going through the motions for his benefit. To me, it’s disgusting to let complete strangers view pictures of us over the past 6 years just to judge us and decide if it’s good enough or not. We were in love then and even more so today. Sure this is scary and people may think I could have gotten out as soon as I found out, but you know what, he is my person, my other half, my soul mate, he treats me like a queen, and I am lucky enough to call him my husband and I would go through this all my life just to be with him.
The sad thing is only a handful of people even know about this. Our best friends have no idea and it’s because it seems like nowadays the less people that know the better, in case something changes and they start rounding up anyone here illegally regardless of how they got here. The worst thing that I believe could have happened was Trump getting elected to office. One of the most racist, offensive, derogatory, people I have seen. Now my husband’s chances have been slimmed down even more. One of the hardest things I, myself deal with, is my own father is a diehard republican and voted this man in. We don’t ever talk politics because it may ruin my incredible relationship with my dad. My husband and my dad even have a great relationship and yes, my dad is one of the few people that knows my husband is illegal. I believe that my husband has even opened my dad’s eyes to see that there are a lot of good immigrant’s out there who live and work alongside us every single day, especially since his daughter fell in love with one of “those people”. The few bad ones of course, give all minorities a bad rep but even here in Idaho there are criminals and that doesn’t make all Idahoans bad, but they are the “bad hombres” according to Trump.
Right now I am not proud to be an American.
My mother, father, uncle, cousins, best friends, grandpa, and great grandpa all fought in the military for our freedom. We even now, get penalized for flexing our first amendment, freedom of speech. We are told our opinions are wrong because people refuse to listen to them. People believe their way is the only way and is the right way…that is wrong on so many levels I can’t even fathom. It takes everything in me to not fight back with the people that make racist comments or can’t open their eyes and they only see that white people are the only good people and the only people that should be here. Especially when I come from a family of Native Americans who were here before the white’s/Europeans, but that doesn’t matter because we all deserve to be here! And yet my husband has never said a bad thing about anyone over the 6 years I have known him. Even when he is treated like shit he smiles and works that much harder. I can’t even explain how much I admire this man and what he has gone through, and continues to go through and you would never know because he is always smiling. I wish I could even be half the person he is. I drive to work every morning and at least once a week see this older white male that is driving behind me and he turns at an intersection where I go straight, you know what he does…He stops next to me rolls down his window and tells me to get out of America and go back to where I came from because I don’t belong here and other very vulgar things because I am darker skinned, have dark brown eyes, dark brown hair, and maybe even because I’m a woman. He thinks its ok to talk to me like that even thoughI was born in America. That is what’s wrong with this world now is that if our “president”(I say our “president” because he sure as hell isn’t mine) says it then it must be ok for them to say it. What a great role model he is. Not only that instance, but even people looking at you differently, or treating you differently, or is just a special kind of ignorant like that man that follows me to work, people are now being open with their racism and not caring. That is terrifying. I literally lay awake every single night and think about this and what could happen tomorrow. It eats away at me just not knowing our fate. I am the type of person who always expects the worse but hopes for the best and I just hope one day we can stop living in fear.
-The Wife of a Dreamer