This is how we feel today: Life after the DACA decision
Before Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Trump administration would end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, better known as DACA, earlier today, demonstrators had already hit the streets across the country to protest the decision. Hundreds of people assembled outside of Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan holding signs emblazoned with “Somos 11 Millones”, which translates to “We Are 11 Million”, a slogan meant to unite the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country who risk deportation. At least 34 arrests have been reported.
“This country was built on immigrants,” Michele Kaplan, an activist and former administrative assistant, told InStyle.com. “If you’re here, your family immigrated at one point. People forget their roots. How would you want your family to be treated when they come to this country: with disdain and hatred and ignorance and violence, or with love?”
The Obama-era legislation helped protect nearly 800,000 young immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally as minors.
Related article: The Trump administration is officially phasing out the DACA program
According to Sessions, DACA is being phased out and will officially terminate on March 5, 2018, which means that deportation is much more likely for those whose fates hang in the balance.
“I’m scared,” said Hector Martinez, a 26-year-old DACAmented pre-med student at the Borough of Manhattan Community College. “It’s 2017, and basic dignity is something that we’re still fighting for. What hurts me the most is that people seem to be more concerned with the effect on the economy, but DACA is so much more than that—there’s a human cost.”
Related article: Celebrities react to the Trump administration’s decision to end DACA
We spoke to more DACA dreamers and supporters at this morning’s rally and asked them, in the simplest terms: How does the decision to rescind DACA make you feel? Watch the video above to see their choice words.
This article originally appeared in Instyle.com
