With a federal judge in Texas ruling on Friday against the Obama-initiated program protecting young undocumented immigrants from deportation, college students who receive the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) are understandably concerned about what comes next.
The court’s decision blocks first-time DACA applications, which limits college-aged students and their family members who only just became eligible.
Marisol Chavez, who is majoring in elementary education at Trinity Washington University said that she was “shocked and in disbelief,” upon hearing the decision.
“I thought about my friends, myself, and all the Dreamers — and about the future and what is going to happen next,” said Chavez, who is slated to graduate at the end of the next academic school year.
Chavez was born in Mexico and has been in the U.S. for the past 15 years. She has aspirations of becoming an elementary school teacher and wants to enroll in a graduate program once she earns her bachelor’s degree from Trinity.
For many Dreamers like Chavez, the ruling stresses the emotional rollercoaster of DACA that they have lived through for years. The Biden administration will appeal the court’s decision, but without intervention from Congress, the program still balances on a razor’s edge, experts say. It may be one ruling away from being stopped again.
“I really hope that Congress will help to create a pathway to citizenship,” said Chavez.
