The HRI Immigration Issues Committee has put out a call to action. Join us this Saturday, Sep 2, for a rally at the White House. Stand with our DREAMers. Click for details.


During the summer of 2012, I was working an unpaid communications internship in Tallahassee, Florida, with no hopes of ever getting a job that would put my college education to some use. It was not due to laziness, the economy, or unwillingness to seek a job in my preferred field. It was because I was undocumented.

All of that would change on June 15, 2012, a Friday, when I received a personal call from a White House staffer who told me to turn on the television. President Barack Obama was making his announcement regarding “DREAMers,” or young immigrants who arrived to the United States as children but lacked a legal immigration status. I had spent the past several years advocating for the program, so she wanted to tell me herself.

“I hope you understand that this program will benefit you, your brothers, and other immigrants like you,” the voice on the phone said. “Please apply, recruit others to apply as well. All we ask is that you protect people from being scammed by notarios or fraudulent lawyers.   . . .

And now, under President Donald Trump, the program could be taken away from me and close to 800,000 other DACA beneficiaries. After waffling on whether to sunset the program, Trump may cave in to pressure from several Republican state officials who are threatening to sue the administration if they do not end the program by September 5.

Click to read the unabridged version of this article. Updated by