Dreams on hold

On July 16, Judge Andrew Scott Hanen of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas ruled that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy is unlawful. The ruling ordered the Biden administration to stop granting new applications. 

The executive order by then-President Barack Obama took effect in June 2012 for certain people who came to the United States as children to request consideration of deferred actions for a period of two years, subject to renewal. 

According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website, deferred action is a use of prosecutorial discretion to defer removal action against an individual for a certain period of time. Deferred action does not provide lawful status.

Xochitl Hinojosa, a social service provider at La Union Del Pueblo Entero (LUPE) office in San Juan, said new DACA applications will no longer be adjudicated, but renewals will continue.

LUPE is a social service nonprofit organization that is based on values of self-help and services to be able to do peaceful organizing and give back to the community.

“If you’ve had DACA before, in the past, or have been a DACA recipient in the past, you can continue renewing,” Hinojosa said. “It’s just those new applications that are coming in will not be granted but they will be accepted to be taken by immigration. They just won’t be given a decision on them.”

She said there is a fee along with the application but there has been no administration response regarding what will happen to the funds. 

 “The only certain thing that we have is that the applications are continued to be expected,” Hinojosa said. “If it’s a first-time application that has never been granted DACA, they will be accepted. The funds will be taken in, but that application just stays there frozen.

“As of right now, they haven’t stated whether they will be getting any refunds or if that will transfer on to a new process.” 

The DACA community has dealt with similar issues in the past. In 2015, the extended program for DACA was considered illegal by the same judge, according to Hinojosa. 

“This program has been under attack since, basically, when the program started,” she said. “It has been used as a political piece in many legislators’ agendas. Whether to keep it, whether to remove it. And the main reason why they continue using it as a political power play is due to the fact that Judge Hanen has argued that this reaction was not created by a bipartisan congressional move. It was more of just a one-sided administration, in this case the Obama administration. They believe that it was an abuse of power, which is one of the reasons why we are really pushing Congress to look into the issue and create something that is bipartisan by both Republican and Democratic parties so that way we can stop playing with people’s lives and continue moving forward with some type of protections that’s not just something that could be taken away at any moment.”

Comparing previous situations, she said that in 2017, when the program was first terminated under the Trump administration, only renewals continued until a certain time frame. 

“This time around, because the program has been declared illegal completely, it kind of makes us wonder what direction the administration will take this, or even the court themselves,” Hinojosa said. “Back in the day, it was more a process of termination for the deferred action program. So that kind of leaves a lot of people in uncertainty. Will the program continue? Will they completely stop it? Right now, we do have renewals, but moving forward, will they completely change their mind and then completely take the program off? So, I think that’s where we’re at.” 

 Asked for her reaction to the recent ruling, she replied that, as a social service provider to many clients who need this permit, it was heartbreaking.  

“I’ve seen them start from the very beginning and, you know, flourish into model citizens where, you know, they pay taxes, they contribute to their communities, they give back, and being able to hear that the program has now been partially ended, it did break my heart, especially for those that had the hope to be able to start their path in creating careers,” Hinojosa said. 

In Fall 2020, the number of students who may have been considered Dreamers was just over 1,000, Rebecca Gadson, UTRGV associate vice president for Student Life and dean of students, wrote in an email sent to The Rider on Aug. 11. 

“In the past estimated numbers of students that may be dreamers were based on individuals classified as Texas residents under Senate Bill 1528, which allows certain international students, U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and certain non U.S. citizens to establish residency in the state and to qualify for in-state tuition based on eligibility criteria,” Gadson wrote.

Under the criteria, students must have lived in Texas the three years leading up to high school graduation or the receipt of a GED; and resided in Texas the year prior to enrollment in an institution of higher education (which could overlap the three-year period), according to the email.

Aaron Hinojosa, program coordinator for the Center for Diversity and Inclusion and DREAM Resource Center at UTRGV, said he was not surprised by the ruling.

 The center supports culturally based affinity groups, enhances programming that builds cultural competence and civil discourse, provides direct support to students and resources for undocumented and DACA students.

“I think that sounds horrible saying it but I think, understanding our history, that’s why I wasn’t surprised,” Aaron Hinojosa said. “It is shocking to me because I know that it affects our students, our local community, our [Rio Grande Valley] community, because I work with some of the students. I’m still hopeful, but I’m also worried for the well-being of the students who are being affected.”

He said one of the ways the department informs students on DACA and other matters is through DREAM Zone Advocate Trainings. 

“We haven’t specifically designated just for this announcement, as it’s always changing, and there’s local organizations and also national organizations that provide as it’s happening,” Aaron Hinojosa said. “But we do offer DREAM Zone Advocate Training and that within itself always keeps attendees updated in the most current situation.”