Daca used to be a celebrity. The unregistered youth who followed has been relieved

Alex immigrated to the US as a young child and has long felt uneasy about his undocumented status.

In 2017, when he was 15, he was finally old enough to apply for the limited action for child immigration program, only to be able to hold the papers before the start, when the Trump Administration pursued.

Then in 2020, Alex graduated at the top of his class and has been slaying his way through college, including a full ride to Harvard University. He ultimately declined due to his condition, worried about travel restrictions. Instead, he enrolled at the University of California Campus.

“It was almost like the system was mocking me,” said Alex, who is now a Culur State University Graduate Student and chose to use his middle name for fear of being referred to immigration authorities. “No matter how you go through, the system always comes back to suffering, to remind you that you have done all that, and yet you have no choice.”

The promise of job authorization and deportation drew a generation of undocumented youth out of the shadows when Daca began operating in 2012.

These student benefits have also been expanded by the Trump Administration’s Adhesion to Strengthen Strategic Plans this year. DACA recipients and international students have taken aim, casting a cloud over higher education attainment for less protected undocumented youth.

Gaby Pacheco, who was unregistered when she was in high school and helped lead the way to organize the efforts that led to Daca in the year 2000s, says the youth that is ignored today “and the limitations of her generation.

“It keeps people engaged and, in a sense, brings their dreams and their dreams closer,” said Pacheco, who serves as President and CEO of Thedream.us, a scholarship program. Among the most prominent obstacles barred from Federal Aid, certain regions and job opportunities, he said.

Many of these concerns are nothing new, but “feel bigger and more imminent than ever” because of the hostile immigration strategy and rhetoric, the senior director of research and policy at the President’s Higher Education and Immigration Question said.

Undocumented youth have long been at the center of national debate. What has emerged is a web of shaky piecemeal legislation that dictates their status, which is being challenged across the country.

Daca survived the President’s 2017 legislative session when the Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that his administration did not take the necessary steps to end the program.

This year, the US 5th Circuit Court issued a ruling that would uphold Daca nationwide but remove work authorization for recipients living in Texas. Protection would remain the same in all other states, and applications could be reopened. The decision is pending a decision by a lower court judge on how its implementation will work.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), reauthorized the Dream Act in early December, the most recent effort to give young immigrants a path to citizenship.

The current Trump administration is trying to close the door Suing California in NovemberIt is alleged that the State’s long-term – giving the state’s long-term residence to unregistered students is illegal. The action follows similar legal action taken by the federal government to end it Education equality laws in America cross country.

“I feel like it’s my family and I’ve been thrown into a video game,” Alex said. “Like the console is open every morning, you know, and it’s a challenge and it’s a game and I have to survive.”

Who are today’s illiterate students?

There has been no noticeable decrease in the 80,000 undocumented students enrolled in the state.

Undocumented students can apply for state financial aid through the California Dream Act, but applications are down 15% this academic year, with more than 32,000 applications submitted. Applications have declined sharply since 2018.

Advocates warn that this decline is a result of legal challenges to daca and young people who are reluctant to share their knowledge of government programs.

More than half a million undocumented people are enrolled in higher education, but less than 30% of them qualify for DACA, according to a top immigration website. Many of today’s high school students were born after 2007 and automatically age out of the system.

The average age of the more than 500,000 DACA recipients is 31, with nearly 90% older than 26. The population is also charted, from the Javier Carbajal Center at Los Angeles Valley College.

“We call them the first undocumented students,” Carbajil-Ramos said. “They’re people who really had a chance and might have taken it. But then, the plan changed.”

Alex, who was brought to the country by his mother from El Salvador in the early 2000s, did not qualify for DACA because he was five years shy of the minimum age.

“I grew up feeling silenced, and then there was this period of time where I felt like I could speak up and I could get my voice back. … now, I feel like I’m closed,” Alex said. “My story is decided by everyone except me. My past, my future and my future are all being discussed by people who legally say they don’t see humanity in me.”

Higher education is gambling

Going to college is dangerous for undocumented students. Many choose to go directly to the workforce instead, a choice that Alex says is “very clear” to his peers.

Those who take that geatble often commit to the importance of education, said Iliana Perez, a former recipient and executive director of rising immigrants. Many immigrant families, like Alex, are initially drawn to the US by aspirations of educational access and social mobility.

“My mother’s biggest mistake was thinking that there would be people on the other side of the border who believed in her child like she did,” said Alex. “They did everything they could to be able to continue to believe in me and in them that something has to work.”

School has always felt like a ‘veil of protection’ for Alex. The fear of staff entry was one thing that motivated him to continue with Academia.

Often, education can also enable students to get more battles in legal battles and allow them to pursue career opportunities abroad or methods such as self-employment and entrepreneurship, said Perez.

Many schools now offer support services and partnerships that can provide financial compensation in the form of stipends, mainly due to the organizing efforts of previous generations of unregistered students, the Carbajil-Ramos.

One college senior who was drafted worked a summer camp program at Cal State University after his freshman year because it was paid for. A one-year teaching position was available but was paid an hourly wage, meaning he was not eligible.

However, department leaders committed to offering him a position and paid him tuition instead, he said, which allowed him to generate income while in school.

“It wasn’t something I asked for. They did it themselves. For that, I’m really grateful,” said the Times, which had no legal basis. “It was surprising to see a group of people who really wanted to help me.”

Colleges and universities across the country have also established dream resource centers, which offer services, grants and support to immigrant students. There are 161 institutions on campuses across the country, including all community colleges and all Cal and UC Campuses; 14 private universities also have dream centers in California.

Carbajal-Ramos, who is a representative of the District of institutions in the entire Los Angeles area, said that it is important to reach students where they actually live. Serves at least 1,000 students who do not have a counselor at Los Angeley Valley College.

“When someone tells you honestly that you can’t, whether you surrender or fight, on the right side? And we got here because of the war,” said Carbajal-Ramos. “They have it kind of hard. They have drive. It’s my job to keep it that way. “

Alex, now only months away from completing his master’s degree, hopes to enroll in the next PHD program. Applications often require you to plan what the next five years of your academic journey might look like, a task that has become increasingly difficult.

“I can’t really think about my life for the next five years,” she said. “I can’t even think about my life tonight. The drive home scares me. Coming to campus scares me. Driving my car scares me.”