DACA: “Dreamers” worry about future, Nebraska’s Congressional delegation comments

Nov. 15, 2017, 6:45 a.m. ·

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DACA supporters rallied outside the state capitol in September. (Photo by Mike Tobias, NET News)

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In September President Trump announced an end to the controversial Obama-era DACA program. It provides deportation protection and other benefits to thousands of immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children, including more than 3,000 in Nebraska. We talked with members of Nebraska’s Congressional delegation about legislative options, and with DACA youth waiting nervously.


Seated around a U-shaped table in a student union meeting room, 20 members of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Define American student organization plan an event. They will set-up a booth and encourage students to write Nebraska’s members of Congress in support of so-called “dreamers.” That’s the term often used for young people enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA.

UNL chapter Define American members meet in the UNL city campus union. (All photos by Mike Tobias, NET News)


UNL student and DACA recipient Annia Elizabeth Morin-Chavez.


UNL student and Define American chapter co-founder Val Rodriguez.


ADDITIONAL NET NEWS STORIES ON DACA

"Nebraska Reaction to White House DACA Decision" (Sept. 2017)

"DACA's Uncertain Future and the Story of One Nebraska DACA Recipient" (July 2017)

"'Dreamers' Face Uncertain Future When it Comes to Higher Education" (March 2017)

"Senators Override Ricketts on Professional Licenses for DACA Recipients" (April 2016)

"Legislature Overrides Ricketts' Veto, Approves 'Dreamers' Driver's Licenses" (May 2015)

Define American focuses on immigration education, awareness and advocacy. There’s a sense of urgency to their work, with the White House ending DACA and permits beginning to expire in March.

“A lot of my DACA peers, friends, classmates do have that fear of uncertainty. I have friends who are coming up to graduation whether it be in December or in May, and they do have that uncertainty, that ‘what am I going to do after graduation? Am I going to be able to pursue higher education? Will my employer hire me if my DACA expires,’” said Val Rodriquez, a UNL senior from Mitchell who helped start UNL’s Define American chapter two years ago. Their work now includes raising funds for scholarships to help DACA and undocumented students pay for school.

A diverse group attends this Define American meeting. This includes Mexican-born DACA recipient Annia Elizabeth Morin-Chavez.

“I don't remember where I was born, so it's kind of hard to call that my home when this is my home,” Morin-Chavez said. Her parents brought her to South Sioux City when she was just four-years-old. “My parents had decided that it was better for us to pretty much move to a better environment.”

Her parents would later become citizens, but thought the best option for their Mexican-born daughter was pursuing a DACA permit. “Which I totally understand because it did give me a lot of chances,” she said. Now she’s a sophomore accounting major at UNL. DACA lets her have a driver’s license, an on-campus job and deportation protection.

“But with the whole thing it's going on now and Congress getting those six months to fix everything, it kind of makes me feel more nervous about what's about to come,” she said. “Like what is the outcome of it? What is my future going to be like? Which is something I worry about every single day.”

Several proposals providing benefits similar to DACA are on Capitol Hill, most notably the Dream Act in the U.S. Senate and Bridge Act in the House. Both have bi-partisan support. Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska is a Bridge Act co-sponsor, but thinks the final solution will be something that provides more permanent residency to undocumented youth, and addresses other immigration issues. He calls “taking the worry of deportation permanently off the minds of DACA youth” his main goal.

“I think a far majority in our district do not want to see DACA deported. They want to see both,” Bacon said in an interview. “I think that's becoming the agreed-upon sense with the folks I'm talking to in the House is that we need to both give permanent residence to DACA, but you can't just do that. You've got to help fix the problem and do some fixes on the border and VISAs. So you're going to see something that could be a compromise bill that has both by the time we’re done.”

Of Nebraska’s delegation, all Republicans, Bacon has taken the clearest, most vocal stance on DACA. Here’s what some of the others have to say. Sen. Deb Fischer and Rep. Adrian Smith both say they’re meeting with DACA recipients and other constituents on the issue.

“I don't have a comment on that right now because I am still listening to a number of individuals on it,” Fischer said in an interview, “and a lot of my colleagues have been discussing different options, and I always say we have to see what we're able to pull together on it.”

“I still want to take a look at the various proposals that are out there,” Smith said in an interview. “I’m not ready to settle on one particular way forward at this point. We do have some time. Ultimately we need to have something that's enforceable that is going to address the issue at hand.”

Rep. Jeff Fortenberry wasn’t available for an interview, but he previously stated about DACA that “necessary humanitarian exceptions must be nested in policies that further robust border security, interior enforcement against illegal activity and foreign policy initiatives to mitigate the pressure for economic migration.”

Sen. Ben Sasse declined to be interviewed for this story and doesn’t have a statement on the issue on his web site.

Last week a group of House Republicans called on Congress to pass DACA relief by the end of the year, a view echoed by many Democrats. Congressman Bacon thinks that’s unlikely, but that there’s desire to get something passed before DACA permits start running out in March.

“I do have hope that it will happen before March,” said Rodriguez, who also works as a community organizer with the non-profit organization Nebraska Appleseed. “I do have hope and that's why we keep writing to our representatives. That’s why we keep calling our representatives and that's why we continue to be active.”

It’s still a long wait for Annia Morin-Chavez. She spends some of the time involved with Define American events, and speaking out and sharing her DACA story.

“I want people to understand that that I am doing my best to make some sort of difference or to be able to live in a country that is what made me, me. And I wish that people would see that more often. See that, OK she hasn't done anything bad to be sent away or anything like that. I want them to see that this girl deserves to be here. Any of us deserve to be here.”