Back in June of 2012, President Obama announced a new immigration policy called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA for short). This new policy would allow immigrants who entered as minors to receive a two-year work permit. Can you imagine being born in a country, but when you were young your parents moved you to a country called America and America is the only country you now know? Maybe you attend a university studying law or medicine, maybe you have younger siblings who are all American citizens, and maybe the only language you know is English. Can you imagine the relief you felt on June 2012, that for one moment America was actually living up to its reputation of being the Land of Opportunities?

Fast Forward to September 2017, our despicable leader announces that he will be rolling back DACA. His reasons for this, as he likes to say, is because “those in the country illegally are lawbreakers who hurt native-born Americans by usurping their jobs and pushing down wages” (New York Times). I am sorry, but if you are really threatened by an undocumented student taking your job, maybe you should take a long hard look in a mirror, or better yet, instead of blaming others for your inability to get a job you go out there and do the work to get a job.

These undocumented immigrants were brought here as children and now we Americans are going to send them back to a country they never have even known. People argued that DACA is illegal, but Obama tried to get DACA passed through Congress and it never made it through… It always got shut down. People seemed so angry that Obama passed DACA as an executive order even though Trump has already passed 32 executive orders during his first 100 days as President.

To anyone who truly feels DACA is a threat to Americans, I truly want to know how. DACA recipients are NOT able to get Medicaid, food stamps, welfare, THEY PAY TAXES, they pay into social security, some of them are doctors and firefighters, and they do so much for America yet here we are threatening to kick them out.

Trump ran on the campaign of fighting ILLEGAL immigration, but so far all he has done is tighten up on LEGAL immigration. Are there illegal immigrants out there committing crimes and abusing the system? Yes. Are there Americans out there who are committing crimes and abusing the system? Yes. The DACA recipients are not the ones out there committing the crimes yet they have to face the consequences… way to go, America.

If you call yourself pro-life and feel okay with sending 800,000 HUMANS to a country they have never been to I truly deplore you. I emphasized humans because so often, we think because we call someone an immigrant it makes them less human than the rest of Americans. Tell me, what makes them less human? Go read stories of undocumented students, go read how some DACA recipients never knew they were undocumented until they were in high school, go read how some of these DACA recipients are doctors, and go read how some of these DACA recipients fear for their lives because of Americans.

Go read their stories, and if you still feel they should be deported, I truly question the characteristics of many Americans. The decision to end DACA is one that is cruel and a cowardly move of the Trump administration to destroy any policy that has the imprint of Obama. Again, to anyone who supports the end of DACA, I hope you get that job you felt was stolen by a student, I hope you feel safe now that hardworking students are going to be forced back to a country they have never known, and I hope you sleep well at night knowing you're okay with destroying the lives of 800,000 humans.

To any Dreamer reading this, don't let Trump's words fool you. I stand with you, a majority of Americans stand with you, and we promise we will do everything we can to protect you, your home is and forever will be in America the land of opportunities.