Those protected from deportation by Obama order now face uncertainty

By Philip Haldiman, Independent Newsmedia

Adriana Garcia grew up in Peoria, and was raised with the belief that all people share a common humanity.

She is a product of the Peoria Unified School District, where she was an honor student. As a young woman, after graduating, she campaigned for a politician who, she said, also believed in that common humanity.

Ms. Garcia then became one of the first students awarded an internship for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute in Washington D.C., where she worked on Capitol Hill for a semester fighting for that ideal.

She has been a community organizer and now works for a nonprofit doing legal aid work for vulnerable children and youth.

Ms. Garcia is 24 years old, and has spent most of her life in this country illegally.

But the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy has allowed her, and other young undocumented immigrants, to come out of the shadows and pay a fee for a work permit and protection from deportation.

Ms. Garcia has come of age in the era of Sheriff Joe Arpaio and legislation like SB 1070. And now, on the eve of Donald Trump being sworn in as the 45th president of the United States, her future has become a little more cloudy once again.

Mr. Trump spent nearly two years on the campaign trail running tough on illegal immigration and has stated that he will remove President Barack Obama’s executive actions and orders, which would include DACA.

Now Ms. Garcia and others like her look forward with uncertainty.

“I tried to be the all-star kid. That didn’t work. I have tried to believe that being Catholic and understanding that sometimes people need refuge and the love a neighbor, and that hasn’t worked,” she said. “To me, now it is about appealing to ... I mean, I am a human being, and you’d think that would be enough.”

Since the inception of the DACA program in 2012, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has granted deferred action to more than 750,000 individuals, more than 27,000 of them from Arizona. Recipients must renew every two years.

USCIS officials said they could not speculate on the program going forward, but sent a statement to Independent Newsmedia from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson: “Since DACA began, thousands of Dreamers have been able to enroll in colleges and universities, complete their education, start businesses that help improve our economy, and give back to our communities as teachers, medical professionals, engineers and entrepreneurs — all on the books. We continue to benefit as a country from the contributions of those young people who have come forward and want nothing more than to contribute to our country and our shared future.”

 

CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS

Last week, a panel of judges with the Arizona Court of Appeals heard arguments to block the Maricopa Community Colleges Governing Board from granting in-state tuition to DACA students. Under current rules, the district allows in-state tuition for them.

A decision was not made by press time.

But Johnny Sinodis, an immigration lawyer with Salvatierrra Law Group, said applications for DACA continue to come in despite this battle between the state and the community college district, as well as the uncertainty a Trump presidency has created in the Hispanic community.

The Department of Homeland Security recently released a statement to quell worries that DACA enrollees had about their private information being used against them.

Mr. Johnson said in a statement, “The personal information (applicants) provided will not later be used for immigration enforcement except where it is independently determined that a case involves a public safety threat, criminal activity, fraud or other limited circumstances where issuance of a notice to appear is required by law.”

Additionally, bipartisan legislation called the Bridge Act is in Congress that would essentially make the DACA program law. It has yet to go to a vote and must be signed by the president.

But Mr. Sinodis said the fallout could be great if DACA is canceled, especially in Arizona, a state that, he said, has the highest percentage of eligible people enrolled in the program.

“It would be great to keep the program, and it wouldn’t destabilize those already in the program. It has allowed for the fabric of our country to come out and live like the rest of us. But if DACA is canceled, there would be more mistrust of the federal government, as if there wasn’t enough of that already,” Mr. Sinodis said. “Employers would also be put in a tricky situation because they have spent a lot of money over the last few years training individuals (eligible to work legally). From a Dreamer’s perspective, they are going to have to work without lawful permission to do so. For anybody, that is not a good idea — committing crime on a day-to-day basis.”

 

DEPORTATION ANXIETY

For nearly a quarter of a million young, undocumented undergraduates, deportation is a constant concern, according to a report released in 2015 by the Institute for Immigration, Globalization, and Education at UCLA and the UndocuScholars Project.

Dr. Saskias Casanova, an assistant professor at Arizona State University’s School of Transborder Studies and a researcher on the study, said more than 900 undocumented students across the country had higher levels of anxiety over deportation, with 28.5 percent of male and 36.7 percent of female participants’ anxiety scoring above a clinical cut-off level, in contrast with 4 percent and 9 percent of a normal population, respectively.

More than 74 percent of participants reported worries about being detained or deported, and more than 55 percent reported personally knowing someone who had been deported, according to the study.

“They feel like at any point they could be taken away,” Ms. Casanova said. “Even those protected by DACA feel that deportation is a very real threat.”

While campaigning, Mr. Trump promised to remove the DACA program, threatening to deport those who have been granted deferred action, along with the 11 million others who are living in the country illegally.

As president-elect, Mr. Trump has tempered his tone, but it is unclear how he will deal with DACA once sworn in.

Ms. Casanova, who has a Ph.D. in Education-Developmental and Psychological Sciences, said she is not sure what will happen, but the mixed messages from Mr. Trump do not help.

“Anxiety with Trump has become a game of trying to figure out what is going to happen,” she said.

All public schools are required to enroll all eligible children regardless of their citizenship or immigration status, according to a 1984 Supreme Court ruling.

Ms. Casanova said many people do not realize many undocumented immigrants, especially those eligible for DACA, have been in the United States since they were children, and by all accounts consider themselves American.

It’s not uncommon for kids to realize they are undocumented until they try get their driver’s license or apply for a job or college, she said.

“Kids get really depressed when they find this out. They feel like they are in a state of limbo because they are allowed to go to school up to 12th grade, yet don’t have legal status. In turn, this creates problems continuing their education,” Ms. Casanova said. “But a positive with DACA is that it allows students to have at least a sense of well-being and a reduced sense of stress and depression.”

 

ON THE HOMEFRONT

Last month, a coalition of conservative business and community leaders throughout the state launched the PNAE-AZ organization to address the country’s immigration system by securing the border, growing the economy, and recognizing that the solution begins with giving immigrants a path to work legally in this country.

The coalition includes co-chair State Rep. Tony Rivero, who represents Peoria and was a former member of the Peoria City Council. He said the immigration system is broken but improvement can begin once meaningful regulatory guidelines for undocumented immigrants are established.

The Republican lawmaker said immigrants play a critical role in Arizona’s economy, making up 14 percent of the population and contributing $5.4 billion in state and federal taxes, or more than one in eight of the total share in tax dollars in 2014.

Mr. Rivero said PNAE-AZ’s efforts will begin when Mr. Trump is sworn in.

“DACA is better than nothing, but the Hispanic community was shortchanged,” Mr. Rivero said. “For me, it’s pretty simple. We need to be compassionate about people, from a practical point of view. It doesn’t make sense as a country to educate these children, kindergarten through 12th grade and even college, and then say they can’t participate in our economy and our country. They are good for our economy. These are hard-working individuals.”

 

A MEXICAN AMERICAN

Adriana Garcia was born outside Mexico City in 1992, to parents who owned small businesses – a bakery and a party supply store. When the economy tanked in the 1990s, they could not find work. Desperate for employment and knowing they would at least have relatives and friends in Arizona, her father migrated across the border, and was later followed by her mother.

Ms. Garcia said an adult accompanied her across the border, and  she was reunited with her parents when she was 8 years old.

“My story is a little different than the one you hear on the news. I did not have it bad crossing the border. With the increased security that we have now, that could not happen today,” Ms. Garcia said.

Growing up, she always had a lingering worry of being deported.

“Even as a child, it caused stress. You can’t trust law enforcement. You can’t reach out to them if you need help,” she said. “It was a constant, so I didn’t start talking about being undocumented until I was in college.”

She was a Girl Scout, and throughout high school she played the role of the dutiful big sister. She participated in numerous clubs and took honors classes.

Then, a month before graduation then-Gov. Jan Brewer  signed Senate Bill 1070 into law.

“It was a real shocker,” she said. “Here I was an honors kid, I had done really well. My classmates were getting ready for college, excited for what was next, and I couldn’t share in that. It was hard for me not to have a clear future.”

Not long after the bill was signed into law, Ms. Garcia got involved in politics, supporting Daniel Valenzuela’s campaign for Phoenix City Council.

Ms. Garcia said she had grown weary of people taking a hard line on immigration.

“I was knocking on doors all summer,” she said. “I was tired of people who didn’t understand the experiences of me and my family and how hard we have worked. I was tired of people making decisions about me without input from me. People still wanted to make sure we didn’t stay here. So, that’s why I started doing campaign work.”

In 2012, Ms. Garcia was accepted into the DACA program, allowing for an easier path to her work in advocacy. She said it has brought a sense of normalcy into her life. But she must renew for the program this summer.

“My parents have good work here in the restaurant industry. We have a house and we own cars. Even now I go back to my parent’s house and there are still boxes in our garage from when SB 1070 was signed. We were prepared to leave,” she said. “But I have two younger sisters who were born here. I have relatives and friends here. I am part of a community. I couldn’t imagine going back home.”

 

DACA details

On June 15, 2012, the Secretary of Homeland Security announced that certain people who came to the United States as children and meet several guidelines may request consideration of deferred action for a period of two years, subject to renewal.

They are also eligible for work authorization. Deferred action is a use of prosecutorial discretion to defer removal action against an individual for a certain period of time. Deferred action does not provide lawful status.

DACA is not amnesty and does not provide a path to citizenship.

Qualifications:

1. Under the age of 31 as of June 15, 2012


2. Came to the United States before reaching 16th birthday


3. Continuously resided in the United States since June 15, 2007, up to the present time


4. Physically present in the United States on June 15, 2012, and at the time of making the request for consideration of deferred action with USCIS


5. Had no lawful status on June 15, 2012


6. Currently in school, have graduated or obtained a certificate of completion from high school, have obtained a general education development (GED) certificate, or are an honorably discharged veteran of the Coast Guard or Armed Forces of the United States


7. Have not been convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanor or three or more other misdemeanors, and do not otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety.