'We are here to stay': Phoenix community celebrates DACA milestone but pledges a continued fight

As people streamed into the Phoenix Metro Tech High School cafeteria, shuffling into seats at tables adorned with colorful assortments of confetti and cacti succulents, DJ Ramirez filled the air with songs by La Sonora Dinamita.

Everyone was here for DACAversary, an event hosted Saturday by the community organizations Living United for Change in Arizona and Arizona Center for Empowerment to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the passage of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

It's the policy that grants some immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children a work permit and protection from deportation.

The mood was joyous, but the organizers made it clear the event was not just a celebration of a 10-year-old solution but a continued fight for something better.

“It’s been 10 years since we got DACA — something that we had been fighting for, and something that we needed,” said Blanca Collazo, a LUCHA community organizer in central east Phoenix. “But it is not what we truly deserve. There are still people left in the shadows. Our parents were still left out of DACA. So today we are here to educate you all, engage you all, and empower you all to continue to fight and get involved for a pathway to citizenship, which is what we truly deserve.”

DACA does not provide a pathway to citizenship; in fact, the policy implemented by then-President Barack Obama's administration is facing a court challenge. Seven states, led by Texas, are challenging DACA's constitutionality.

“These 10 years have been long, and our people are still constantly getting separated, their families are getting deported,” Collazo said.

After offering an overview of the impact of Arizona SB 1070, colloquially known as the “show me your papers” law, the fight for the Dream Act, and the passage of DACA, Collazo shared her own story as a DACA recipient. Born in Michoacán, Mexico, she arrived in the U.S. when she was 3.

“It wasn’t until 2010 with everything going on with SB 1070 that it hit me and it separated my family,” she said. When she was 9, her grandfather was deported on his way to work. “Even though I was so young, I still knew that I had lost my grandfather. I would go to the closet and smell his clothes because I missed him, and I never saw him after he was taken that morning.”

A year later, her grandmother self-deported to be with him. “I still remember when she got into that white van, and she also never came back,” Collazo said.

At age 16, after her mom was able to save up for a lawyer, Collazo applied for DACA. Around the same time, she joined LUCHA and became involved in protests and walkouts at her high school. “I was literally the girl that would get up on cafeteria tables and tell people what was going on in our communities, and I was super, super shy.”

In 2021, Collazo’s grandfather passed away from COVID-19. “I am still grieving his death because I was not able to lay him to rest,” she said.

“My mom and my dad lost their loved ones, and they also could not go to say goodbye. My mom told me ‘I wish I could turn into a butterfly so that I could fly to Mexico to say bye to my mom,’” Collazo said through tears.

“That’s why I’m here.”

Immigration resources available

Along the back wall of the cafeteria, tables were set up with a variety of immigration resources. Beneath a red tent reading “Sus Abogados de Confianza,” the Ybarra Maldonado & Alagha Law Group offered free immigration legal consultations with attorneys.

The Arizona Dream Act Coalition promoted its Mexico study abroad trips made possible by advance parole — a travel document issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that allows DACA recipients to leave and reenter the United States for humanitarian, education or employment purposes.

This summer, the coalition will take more than 100 people through the process of applying for advance parole for educational trips to Mexico City, Tijuana, Oaxaca, and Cuernavaca. Each monthlong trip includes three weeks of independent travel allowing participants to visit their families and one week of study abroad activities, including visits to museums, universities and Spanish classes.

“They just have to call, and we do everything,” said coordinator Michael Browder, referring to the advance parole application process. The coalition is currently recruiting participants for its winter trip.

At the next table, Arizona Center for Empowerment helped U.S. citizens in the crowd register to vote and raise awareness for Proposition 308. It's a 2022 ballot measure that would allow all graduates of Arizona high schools to qualify for in-state college tuition regardless of immigration status.

About 11:30 a.m., a line began to form for free food, including a taco bar, aguas frescas, calabacitas with soy chorizo and tofu stir fry.

As people ate, dancers from Fiesta Mexicana Dance Company performed el baile folkórico.

Intricate butterflies — a symbol of immigration and migration and an emblem of the Dreamers movement — decorated cupcakes reading, “Happy tenth anniversary. We are here to stay.” Butterflies also adorned the faces and arms of people who stopped by the face paint station.

Vero Garcia painted an image of a young girl with orange butterfly wings reaching for a smaller butterfly against a backdrop filled with people of all ages.

Garcia, a Northern Arizona University senior and LUCHA team leader, was commissioned by LUCHA to do an art piece on DACA, and for her first time painting in front of an audience, she knew she wanted to use the symbol of the butterfly, but more importantly, the image of a young girl.

“To me, the most empowering thing to see is a little girl achieving her dreams,” Garcia said.

'Here to stay. Here to stay'

Hazel Villatoro graduated from North High School a year early and has volunteered with LUCHA since February. She and her parents are undocumented, and in 2021, she applied for DACA.

“My dad is our only source of income, and he has three kids, and we’re all going to be in college, so it’s really hard to pay off tuition, or even provide for us,” Villatoro said.

But four months after submitting her DACA application, she received a call from her lawyer in September 2021 telling her that all DACA applications were halted because of the Texas court ruling.

“I was kind of upset. I was really looking forward to working. I wanted to help out my family, and I was really worried about my college tuition," she said. "I want to become an anesthesiologist.”

She is still waiting to hear about the status of her DACA application, but through Dream US, she will be attending Grand Canyon University with a full ride scholarship. “I hope younger generations are bold enough to fight — to try and get what hasn’t been done yet,” she said.

By the end of the event, attorney Ray Ybarra estimated about 20 people had stopped by for free consultations on topics including consular processing, DACA renewals, status adjustment and asylum.

But Ybarra said the general consensus is that there aren’t enough options. “They want something more. They want a permanent solution.”

Where to get help: Undocumented students struggle to pay for Arizona universities

To close out the event, Collazo led everyone in a melodic chant.

“Solid as a rock. Rooted as a tree. We are here. Standing strong. In our rightful place. We are freedom bound. We are freedom bound.”

“Here to stay. Here to stay. Here to stay. Here to stay.”

Madeleine Parrish covers equity issues for The Arizona Republic. Reach her at madeleine.parrish@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix community celebrates DACA milestone but vows continued fight