Trump Administration DACA Announcement Leaves Area Recipients Fearful

The Trump Administration announcement that it will end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, is leaving local students frightened in unsure about their future.

Nancy Ramirez-Blancas is the president of the Illinois Coalition Assisting Undocumented Students Education (I-CAUSE) at the U of I. If DACA ends she says, some 800,000 DACA recipients won’t be eligible to work, renew a driver’s license or get a social security number.

"We are kind of stripped of those privileges once again and it just leaves us with nothing, really," Blancas said.

Gilberto Rosas is Associate Professor for Anthropology and Latino-Latina studies at the U of I. Rosas calls the Trump Administration decision to end DACA in six months xenophobic. 

He says public pressure on congress in will determine of DACA recipients will be able to stay in America.

"I think the pressure on our lawmakers right now is paramount and I would ask people to really get involved and push," Rosas said. He adds that he is very concerned about DACA students on the UIUC campus.

The University of Illinois issued a statement saying it will comply with all federal law, while calling on congress to keep providing educational access to all undocumented students.