DACA celebrates its 10-year anniversary amid many bumps in the road

David Plazas, Nashville Tennessean
·3 min read
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Good morning, familia:

Ten years ago today, former President Barack Obama signed an executive order creating the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

DACA sought to provide an opportunity for qualified young people who were brought to the United States as children a chance to fully participate in society by granting them a worker's permit, a driver's license and a chance at the American Dream.

Promises of immigration reform and a path to citizenship have gone nowhere through four presidential administrations over the last 20-plus years, and DACA has a faced a roller coaster ride, especially after the Trump administration rescinded the program.

Different court decisions saved the program on a technicality and also limited it so that no new applications are being approved by the Department of Homeland Security. Current DACA recipients, also known as Dreamers, are in political limbo.

In Tennessee, efforts to allow Dreamers to pay in-state, rather than more expensive out-of-state, tuition at public universities lost by one vote. However, private colleges stepped in, and the Equal Chance for Education nonprofit has granted scholarships to hundreds of Dreamers to pursue a college education.

Other nonprofits such as Conexión Américas and Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition have advocated for the rights of Dreamers.

TIRRC recently helped lead a successful push for a new law to allow Dreamers — more than 8,000 in Tennessee — to apply for commercial and professional licenses.

Over several years, I have met, interviewed and worked with Dreamers, such as, Cesar Virto, Brian De Los Santos and Zacnite Vargas. I saw young people hungry for opportunity and willing to work hard to succeed.

Former Bush Administration U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, now dean at Belmont University College of Law, urged Congress to pass immigration reform in a guest opinion column in 2018.

"Dreamers first came into our country through no fault of their own and, for many of them, the United States is the only home they have ever known," Gonzales wrote. "For the most part they are just as American as my own sons in terms of their values, hopes and dreams."

Gonzales is right. Congress has a moral obligation to do the right thing and create a path of citizenship for Dreamers and many others like them.

In this week's newsletter, here are other articles you will find:

Share your cuento: Be a Latino storyteller

The Tennessean is partnering with Plaza Mariachi to put on Latino Tennessee Storytellers program on Thursday, Oct. 13, at 7 p.m. Nominate yourself or someone else to volunteer to share a 10- to 12-minute story that evening. Email me your name, contact information and story idea to dplazas@tennessean.com.

Happy week! ¡Muchas gracias!

David Plazas is the director of opinion and engagement for the USA TODAY Network - Tennessee. He is of Colombian and Cuban descent, has studied or worked in several Spanish-speaking countries, and was the founding editor of Gaceta Tropical in Southwest Florida. He has lived in Tennessee since 2014. Call him at (615) 259-8063, email him at dplazas@tennessean.com or tweet to him at @davidplazas.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: DACA celebrates its 10-year anniversary amid many bumps in the road