“Viva los estudiantes! Viva!”
Through rain and biting weather, protesters marched throughout the UTRGV Edinburg campus today to challenge and raise awareness of the Supreme Court’s decision for the fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
“We’re here to show support, to show that we care about them, that we love them, and that we’re with them, no matter what happens,” said Denisce Palacios, an international business and political science senior.
The group carried handmade posters and chanted their discontent with the possible end to DACA as they traveled through the campus, growing as other students joined them.
DACA is a program allowing certain individuals who were brought to this country as children, to receive protection from deportation as well as work authorization, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website.
Since its implementation in 2012, over 700,000 people have benefited from DACA, allowing them to work and attend school according to scotusblog.com.
However, since President Donald Trump’s administration decision to end DACA in 2017, the Supreme Court will begin deciding the ruling for the program today.
Araceli Gallegos, an undeclared sophomore and march organizer, said the program opened up opportunities for her, but when Trump decided to end DACA, it closed them.
“I know that without DACA, … I wouldn’t be here next to you,” Gallegos said. “So, I want the DACA program to stay, but not only that, … I want more, because I know people from home who don’t have DACA who couldn’t go, who couldn’t graduate, [and] who cannot go and be educated in college like I am … I think that needs to change, and I think that needs to change right now.”
At the end of the march, several participants spoke in front of a small crowd in front of the Student Academic Center, some voiced their opposition to ending the program and others the inspiration and hope the act of protesting meant to them.
Sara Stapleton-Barrera, a lawyer and Democratic Texas Senate candidate for District 27, participated during the march, and said the individuals she saw protesting were inspiring and courageous to her.
Mikael Sanchez, an environmental science and philosophy freshman and participant, said America needs to redefine what it means to be a citizen.
“You shouldn’t have to be born here in order to reap the benefits of democracy,” said Sanchez. “If you live here, if you work here, then you deserve a piece of the pie, just as much as anyone else.”
