Imagine living a life of constant fear and hunger. A life where at the age of two, you are forced to witness the murder of your own father because of something silly as drinking or women. Imagine being threatened by a random stranger on the street to give up your belongings or be shot. As a parent, would you want your child to grow up in an environment of danger? Such actions may seem foreign to privileged american citizens, but these “crimes” are a reality for illegal immigrants. The children of these undocumented individuals have no say in their future when taken unknowingly across the border. Yet, society has developed a sort of taboo against these children who are striped from their identity as either an American or whatever country of origin. As the saying goes, one bad apple doesn’t spoil the whole bunch, and neither should it for illegal immigrant children.

On June 15, 2012, Obama administration created a program of Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals aka DACA. DACA provides protection for undocumented children, who came to America under 16 of age, are enrolled or have a high school diploma, and committed little to no criminal records, from being deported. It gave almost 800,000 students an opportunity to work and study legally in the United States. The children who were once shunned by society became inspirational leaders of multiple careers. Unfortunately, due to severe opposition, DACA was momentarily put on pause. The future of DACA participants, of right now, are uncertain. There is a six month period of being in a  state of limbo between being “safe” from deportation.

Those unhappy with the turn of events, began protests all throughout the United States. In New York, September 19, three members of the U.S House of Representatives and speaker of New York Council were arrested for participating in a rally to protect DACA recipients. Similarly, celebrities like Chelsea Handler were openly protesting at Washington D.C this saturday, September 23. Not to mention, other celebrities like Selena Gomez, Mark Zuckerberg, and Tyler Oakley to name the few, took to the internet fan base to encourage support for DACA.

All in all, DACA is a program that is necessary for the future of America. Kennedy Maddock (11) quotes, “I understand Donald Trump’s view in a certain sense, but we should have this DACA program to provide education for non-criminal illegal immigrant children.”  It will introduce a new working force, in which, ideas, culture will help further diversify America. So let’s make America “free” again.