The sun will still shine and the grass will still grow the day after the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals is dead. The kids on the playground will still play, since you don't have to be a citizen to play tag. Children have no regard for each others' class, color, or nationality.
I will still get in my car and drive to school with no fear for my or my family's safety. There is no concern that I will be sent to a country that I cannot remember living in. My friends, classmates, and people I grew up with are not mourning the loss of their trust in the future. We will get to continue to study, continue to work, and continue being decent human beings because that is what we have done our entire lives and it is just another day.
We were all working hard to become doctors, teachers, lawyers, linemen, electricians, architects, and engineers. We were all trying to find a way to pay for college. We were all clawing our way to success.
We are all just people trying to make something of ourselves. Today, just like yesterday, we are all trying to live the American Dream. We have repeated this routine since long before DACA existed and we will continue to do so afterward.
There is a difference, though; some of these people entrusted the government to help them. They are who the news is calling "Dreamers." Since the demise of DACA, those Dreamers have had their opportunities stolen from them; going to school just got harder and finding a job just got harder. Today, just like yesterday, they will overcome obstacles that are unthinkable to many.
They are walking a tight rope in hopes that it all pays off, and they are living in fear of paying the steep price for their parents' choices. Today you let a group of young adults who tried to do the right thing down.
"As I’ve said before, we will resolve the DACA issue with heart and compassion." - President Donald Trump
In my school, we are all taught to treat each other with decency and compassion. Courtesy of a very special math teacher, we were also taught the value of integrity. Throwing an entire group of people who placed their trust in the only government they've ever known to the wolves with a six-month waiting period isn't what I would call compassionate or decent.
You must not know any Dreamers personally because if you did, you wouldn't cut the tight rope they balance on without a safety net to catch them. To those asking "Why not just do it legally? Become a citizen."
Take a look here and ask yourself if you could become a citizen. It isn't as easy as going to the DMV and getting a license and you can't just hit the drive through to get some fries with that U.S. citizenship.
Maybe the demise of DACA will lead to a stronger more supportive immigration system? We can only hope that in the small six-month window, Congress can find the integrity, along with heart and compassion, to do the right thing. Congress or not, Dreamers will do whatever they have to and fight to do what needs to be done.
They are resilient and determined, just like the American people. If they are willing to go the length to fulfill all these requirements to even have a chance to apply for essentially a two-year work permit, can you imagine what lengths these people will go now? Just remember whatever happens in the future, we are all just people chasing a dream, not one dream is better than the other, just as not one person is better than the other.
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