As I read the headlines surrounding the still uncertain future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, even as we reached its 11th anniversary on June 15, I cannot help but reflect on the privilege that many of us hold as U.S. citizens.
This is highlighted, for example, in the story of Jaime Avalos, a young man who was stranded in Mexico for six months due to an error in his immigration paperwork. Unlike Avalos, I can choose to read these headlines (or not) with confidence that regardless of what is said, my life and home will very likely remain the same. My U.S. citizenship affords me that certainty.
But for many DACA recipients, their status is increasingly tenuous. An October 2022 court ruling placed more than 600,000 undocumented youth who are protected by DACA in danger of losing the only home they have known. By ruling that DACA was unlawful, the court threw those enrolled in it into a deeper state of fear.
