Dreamers Share Fear and Anxiety as Trump Weighs Ending DACA

An estimated 800,000 people benefit from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

September 5, 2017 10:20 am
Dozens of immigration advocates and supporters attend a rally outside of  Trump Tower along Fifth Avenue on August 15, 2017 in New York City. The activists were rallying on the five-year anniversary of President Obama's executive order, DACA - Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, protecting undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. Security throughout the area is high with President Donald Trump in residency at the tower, his first visit back to his apartment since his inauguration. Numerous protests and extensive road closures are planned for the area.  (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Dozens of immigration advocates and supporters attend a rally outside of Trump Tower along Fifth Avenue on August 15, 2017 in New York City. The activists were rallying on the five-year anniversary of President Obama's executive order, DACA - Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, protecting undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. Security throughout the area is high with President Donald Trump in residency at the tower, his first visit back to his apartment since his inauguration. Numerous protests and extensive road closures are planned for the area. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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As President Trump considers ending an Obama-era program that protects undocumented immigrants who entered the United States as children from deportation, those affected by the decision are turning to social media to express fear and anxiety.

“DACA literally changed my life,” Ilka Eren, who came to the U.S. from Turkey with her parents as a child, told the Huffington Post. “I really don’t know where I would be without it.”

An estimated 800,000 people, known as “dreamers,” benefit from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Juan Escalante, a Venezuela-born dreamer who earned his master’s degree from Florida State University, took to Twitter to express how exhausting the uncertainty about the future is.

“The thought that you would be STRIPPED off your DACA status is not just traumatizing, it’s dehumanizing and exhausting,” Escalante tweeted over the weekend. “Being deported means going back to Venezuela – country under significant economic and political turmoil. What does it mean for others?”

Politico first reported that President Trump is ending DACA, but that won’t become official until an announcement is made, according to NBC News. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is expected to make the official announcement on Tuesday.

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