More than a dozen immigrant youth and allies were arrested in a demonstration in support of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), including four immigrant youth protected by the program. Supported by a crowd of 50 chanting “undocumented and unafraid” and “sí se puede,” the group of activists blocked a busy intersection leading to the Texas State Capitol. Following a group of anti-immigrant Republican hardliners—including Texas’s Dan Patrick—threatening to sue the Trump administration unless it ends the program, the state has become a battleground in the fight to defend and preserve DACA:
“I want my community to know that politicians do not get to decide who is deserving of dignity and who is not,” Catalina Santiago, a DACA recipient arrested in Tuesday’s action, said in a statement. “DACA is under attack while my parents, who are farmworkers, were never even given the temporary protection DACA provides. I am getting arrested today to tell my parents, my community, and the rest of the 11 million that no matter what politicians say, you are worthy and we will not settle for the crumbs they offer us in exchange for being the economic and labor force that sustains this country day in and day out.”
“Texas is ground zero for discrimination against Latinos, immigrants and all people of color,” said Jolt’s Cristina Tzintzún, also referencing SB4, the racist, “show me your papers” law recently passed by the Texas legislature and signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott, a Trump ally. “Efforts by Governor Abbott to promote SB4 and stop the DACA program are hateful, discriminatory and will put our communities in danger. We commend the organizers of today’s DACA action for following the American tradition of using non-violent civil disobedience to advance the rights of people of color.”
Immigrant youth have issued a call to action for allies following Donald Trump’s contradictory signals on the future of DACA. While the popular vote loser promised during the 2016 campaign to rescind the program on day one of his presidency, once in office he has said that he’ll deal with immigrant youth “with heart.” But what he’s doing is playing games with the future of nearly 800,000 young immigrants who call no other country but this one their home by refusing to say whether or not DACA will continue. While a bipartisan set of senators have introduced legislation to protect them in the form of the DREAM Act, the fierce urgency of now also calls for defending DACA:
“I’m doing this for my family and sisters who are undocumented and my 6 month-old-son so he can live in a world where human dignity is respected,” shouted Manuel Ramirez as a trooper escorted him. Ramirez said he’d been undocumented for 20 years but recently got permanent legal status, which was why said he could “put [his] life on the line.”
“With DACA being under attack and with Trump’s [harsh immigration policies], there are so many national laws coming against our immigrant community right now,” Movimiento Cosecha’s Maria Fernanda Cabello told Think Progress:
“We’re not here to change Greg Abbott’s mind or the Attorney General, we’re here to talk for our community that we can’t wait for politicians and that there’s a group out there fighting,” Cabello continued, explaining that activists hope to get more immigrants involved in future fights. “We believe in permanent protections through the power of the labor force of the immigrant community so we want people watching us to join the movement and fight for permanent protections.”