‘Dreamers’ in fear of deportation rally for security

<p>Some New Jersey residents who fall under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program rallied in Jersey City Wednesday to plea to the government to allow the program to stay in place.</p>

News 12 Staff

Aug 30, 2017, 11:44 PM

Updated 2,694 days ago

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Some New Jersey residents who fall under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program rallied in Jersey City Wednesday to plead to the government to allow the program to stay in place.
DACA allows students and young adults who are in the country illegally to stay in the United States. It was put into place by former President Barack Obama. President Donald Trump has considered repealing the program.
Hillside resident Sara Mora, 20, says that her family came to the United States from Costa Rica when she was 4 years old. She says that New Jersey is the only home that she knows and that the DACA program has allowed her to go to college.
She says that she is worried about what it would mean if the program is repealed.
“I think of those undocumented people going back in the shadows because of fear of deportation,” she says. “If my DACA is revoked, I will be thrown into the deportation line.”
About 22,000 New Jersey residents fall under the DACA program in New Jersey. Sen. Bob Menendez says that there are many more across the country.
"DACA made it possible for 800,000 undocumented youth across America to come out of shadows, to step into the light, to pursue their dreams without fear of deportation,” the senator says.
Sen. Menendez and state Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto attended the rally with dozens of New Jersey residents like Mora.
“If we lose this paperwork, we can't go about as regular citizens,” Mora says. “We will have to go in shadows like people who are struggling to be documented.”
President Trump has indicated that a decision on whether or not to repeal DACA cold come by the end of the week.