Ralliers gather to support DACA recipients in Iowa City

IOWA CITY - About 350 University of Iowa students and community members gathered here Thursday to show support for immigrants affected by the Trump administration's decision to reverse protections for those brought to the country as children illegally.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the administration would rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The program offered some protections to immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children, often referred to as Dreamers.

Those at the Defend DACA Rally on the UI Pentacrest chanted 'Aqui estamos, no nos vamos (Here we are, we will not leave)” and held signs with messages like 'We are all Dreamers,” 'No Guac for Immigrant Haters” and 'Keep your hands off my Dreamers.”

Speakers shared their own stories and anonymous letters from Iowa students in the DACA program.

'I am very privileged in the sense that I was born here in the United States, my mother was able to become a citizen. People need to hear the stories of those affected by this,” Victoria Mendoza, a University of Iowa senior, told The Gazette.

Mendoza, 22, read a letter signed by 'a Dreamer that doesn't sleep, University of Iowa class of 2019.”

Attendees also advocated for Iowa's elected officials to pass comprehensive immigration reform that would keep DACA protections.

'What we're really hoping for is strong immigration reform that works in the tradition in which DACA was established,” said Emiliano Martinez, an Iowa senior who organized Thursday's event. 'It was out to give some degree of legal status so people can work, people can educate themselves and people can contribute to their communities.”

President Barack Obama established DACA in 2012 through an executive order. Immigrants accepted into DACA were allowed to legally live and work in the United States in two-year increments that could be renewed. The program did not give recipients permanent residency status.

In announcing the rescission, Sessions said Obama's executive action 'was an unconstitutional exercise of authority by the executive branch.”

'The effect of this unilateral executive amnesty, among other things, contributed to a surge of unaccompanied minors on the southern border that yielded terrible humanitarian consequences. It also denied jobs to hundreds of thousands of Americans by allowing those same jobs to go to illegal aliens,” Sessions said Tuesday.

DACA will end in six months, a move Trump said will put the onus on Congress to determine the next steps for those protected by the program.

Since DACA started, about 800,000 people in the United States, including about 2,800 in Iowa, have been approved for its protections, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Current DACA participants can maintain their status until their permit expires.

'Recipients of DACA are currently unlawfully present in the U.S. with their removal deferred,” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a FAQ. 'When their period of deferred action expires or is terminated, their removal will no longer be deferred, and they will no longer be eligible for lawful employment.”

The rally came just a day after Iowa's attorney general joined a lawsuit against the rescission of DACA.

Isaac Medina, also an Iowa senior, said he came Thursday to 'make a statement.” Medina said he was born in the United States but has family members who are DACA recipients.

'This country has benefited for the longest time off immigrants,” Medina said. 'Without immigrants our country isn't as strong. It doesn't have the same potential to grow as immigrants.”

One woman, who identified herself as a 'Dreamer from Washington,” said her mother brought her to the United States when she was a child. Under DACA, the woman said she felt safe bringing her children to the doctor if they were sick. Now, she's not sure if she'll be able to continue doing so.

'When Obama enacted DACA, I felt I was an eagle tied to the ground with a piece of string. I always thought the next president would cut that string so I could fly, but the opposite happened,” the woman said through an interpreter.

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