In a country where everything is at your fingertips—for the most part—you’d think injustice would have been marked off the list of “Things That Make a Great Country Great”. Because, surely, every powerful country owns one. Yet, that is not the case when it comes to the ever-controversial topic of DACA.
DACA is short for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, and it is an American immigration policy that allows a protection of sorts for individuals who have been brought to the U.S. but who were not involved in the decision to do so. In other words: children. Most of these children were too young to even understand the customs and cultures of their native land, and only know American culture and society. Many would ask, because of this, doesn’t that make them Americans? Aren’t they simply innocent children who have grown to be a part of a nation that they identify with more than their country of birth?
Now, I know it could be argued that they should just go through the proper documentation to attain legal status—AKA the green card—but we don’t know, nor can we imagine the hassle and cost that it could entail. For one, we can imagine that funds for most DACA individuals must be short for the obvious reason that they may not be legally allowed to work, or their parents—often times illegal immigrants themselves—may not have been able to do so, making it hard to pay for anything other than the bare necessities.
Of course, it is a necessity to attain legal status, for reasons such as wanting a good quality of life in the country in which they reside. However, nothing is more important than food, water and shelter. I’ve heard stories from DACA kids where those three things weren’t even available in healthy numbers, and yet they were still able to make their way through varying levels of education. But, once they’ve finished, they are stuck to bear the label that was branded them when they were brought across the border. What an unnecessary quota.
With former president Barack Obama’s work for their full protections going down the drain, the DACA kids are now stuck in an uncertain and vulnerable situation. Why? For one, there was a sort of registry that all DACA individuals put their names in, hoping to receive the benefits Obama was offering at the time. However, now that he is no longer in office, it has left them bare and unprotected.
I personally think that any use of their information should be illegal, given the parameters in which it was revealed. It was offered under the flighty protections of one president only to possibly be used against them.
That would speak such volumes of wrong, of injustice, of the very opposite of what the values of human rights are to us, as Americans.
