College students still protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programs are expressing hope and frustration about congressional action.
Dozens of young adults who came to this country as children are students at Delaware State University. Known as DREAMers, they gathered last week for a reception as the new school year begins.
The DACA program was ended by the Trump administration in 2017, but court decisions have so far kept the program alive.
Tania Hernandez is a junior studying nursing. She says she was part of a group of students who went on a speaking tour through Georgia churches earlier this month.
Hernandez said the experience was intense because she spoke about coming to the U.S. from Mexico as a six-year-old.
“If I close my eyes, I can still envision the desert at night, or the desert in the middle of the day when I saw the wooden crosses," she said. "I still remember the darkness, the cold, having to jump in a ditch. It’s still very fresh.”
Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester told students at the reception, Democrats are still fighting for them. The U.S. House passed the Dream Act in June, but the Senate still has to act.
Hernandez said she’s frustrated that Dreamers keep getting played. She says they’ve been fighting for legal status for several years.
Yulma Lopez said she has to put away thoughts of possible deportation. Lopez is part of a group that has traveled to Capitol Hill to lobby lawmakers. But she hasn’t felt as safe since last month’s mass shooting in El Paso that targeted Hispanics.
“Walking around Delaware, I know it is safer than Texas," she said. "But it is the reality of it, something that happened. What are you prepared to do in a situation where a shooter comes at you, ready to kill you, you know, just because of the way you look.”
The shooter told police he was targeting Mexicans.
