Former DACA recipient details his experience with the program

As a former DACA recipient, she is accustomed to feeling fear about her immigration status. To protect her identity, we will call her “Shweta”.

“We don’t come here with things handed to us. We come here uneducated, earning our own way, with no one to teach us or guide us, just our hopes and dreams,” said Shweta, a former DACA recipient.

For Shweta, these hopes and dreams were at risk before the creation of DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

“I think when I was 16 or 17, that’s when I started asking my dad, ‘Well, Dad, you know, do we have illegal status?’ It’s like, what happened? Can you tell me how you got here and what happened? Because, you know, I’d like to go to college. I would like to start, you know, I would like to have a job, but I can’t do it,” Shweta said.

Immigration policy protects from deportation those who were brought to the country as children without legal permission and gives them work permits. Through the program, Shweta was able to become a healthcare worker and now a mentor to other young women.

“DACA has been implemented. We were so excited, so happy because we said we could finally get a job with benefits and, you know, you wouldn’t have to be afraid to go to work,” Shweta said.

But now, legal battles over the program have put new applications for DACA on hold, leaving Shweta’s brother without the same opportunities in the United States.

“He’s my younger brother who doesn’t have DACA and so it’s very difficult because he’s currently working, you know, moonlighting, trying to make ends meet for his future,” Shweta said.

Shweta now has permanent residency and finally feels free to speak out, including about the fear she felt when former President Donald Trump tried to end the DACA program, before the U.S. Supreme Court does not cancel the decision.

“I was very scared. And that’s when my husband and I decided to move forward with the paperwork for me to get legal status,” Shweta said.

And as she watches the news at the border, Shweta says her identity remains complicated.

“I’ll be honest with you, having been here for so long, I don’t feel American inside,” Shweta said.

Many people believe the country’s immigration policies are complicated and need to be reformed. But how can this be changed and what should happen to those who are brought here as children?

Spectrum News 1 spoke with a graduate researcher at the Manhattan Institute, a public policy think tank.

“I think the solution is to secure the borders, which I mentioned. Because if not, what’s the solution? Okay. If you said to me, yes, let’s allow new people to apply for DACA and “Let’s just push back the deadline, that just means we don’t have any immigration procedures. We just let anyone who comes here as a minor get a green card,” said Daniel Di Martino, a graduate researcher at the Manhattan Institute.

“And if we do this, imagine how many minors will show up at the border. We have over 10,000 every month. We need to prevent this from happening,” Martino said.