Have you ever woken up, and the first thing someone says to you isn't good morning, or do you want breakfast, or did you sleep well - but it's something that tears your world apart?
Something that, even though you haven't even had breakfast yet, makes you want to throw up with anger and sadness?
Something that makes you wish that you had slept a little longer or stayed in bed a couple more minutes, and maybe the outcome would have been different?
I have.
The morning was September 5th, 2017. The night before, I had been looking at medical schools that accepted DACA students and pondered how I'd be able to afford medical school. I had known that the end to DACA was inevitable, but I had hope, still.
That morning, my life completely changed, though. I began to question if school was the correct option, because my DACA status would expire one semester before I graduate. Getting a job would be impossible. My life and my friends' lives were literally ripped out from under us.
Thankfully, U.S. District Judge William Alsup decided that it was ricidulous to end DACA without a replacement in place.
Sure, Dreamers got a temporary fix. I'm happy for that, because at least I know that if nothing changes, my DACA status will still be in place.
But, we want more. No, actually, we DESERVE more. I have worked since the age of 15. I have paid my taxes. I have not taken a dime from this country. I pay for my college tuition out of pocket. I work in healthcare. I go to church on Sundays. I don't drink, I don't do drugs of any kind, I don't drive recklessly. I've only gotten a parking ticket. I am a citizen that anyone would want to have around. Most of us Dreamers are. Yet, somehow, a 12-year bipartsisan plan to offer citizenship that would require A LOT of money that would go to the government (and would still possibly seperate me from my family one day) is not enough for the president of the United States.
You know why?
BECAUSE HE THINKS THAT I DON'T DESERVE TO BE A CITIZEN UNLESS THE PLAN INCLUDES THROWING MONEY DOWN THE DRAIN TO BUILD A FUCKING WALL.
Yes folks, you know that wall that Mexico was going to pay for? Well, yeah, President Trump is trying to use my life as a bargaining chip to get the money to build the wall. Guess who isn't going to pay for it? Mexico, folks. Guess where he's going to get the money instead? From your tax money. If you ask me, that's what I call bullshit.
This temporary halt in the DACA repeal is just going to make finding a solution impossible, because the people they were worried about are now "protected" again. But... are we really?
Because the way that this country is being conducted, I don't feel safe in it.
I have people who tell their kids that they don't want them hanging out with me. I have people who stare at me like I've killed their puppy when I wear my "Dreamers, not quitters" shirt.
A wall isn't going to make this counrty more safe. It's not going to make anyone's lives any easier. Newsflash - Mexico isn't the only way in. Someone can get into this country from all four sides and through the sky. What are we gonna do next? Put a wall in the ocean? Yeah, I didn't think so.
This country needs to worry about making it safe from the inside out, because the year 2017 proved that danger does not lie in the immigrant, or in people of color, or even in the walls of a jail.
Danger lies in the words that come out of our mouths. (The mouth of one person in particular.) So please, continue calling congress, continue spreading the truth, continue to fight for us, because have a temporary fix is not enough.
We wanted change.
And we got change.
But we deserve more.
We got DACA back.
But what now?
We continue to live with dreams we can't afford, in places we can't go.
