Thursday, December 12, 2024

Post-DACA Decision DC Latino Immigrants Fear Deportation

The central talking point at the Fiesta DC celebration on Sunday was immigration reform. The Latino festival comes on the heels of President Trump’s decision to repeal protections for undocumented immigrants who arrived in America as young children.

“Today is the day we can all come out of the shadows,” Gunther Sanabria said. “We can all come out and say here I am, I’m Latino, I’m Hispanic. Look at me.”

The organizers of the Fiesta DC said undocumented immigrants in their community are scared of deportation now that the White House has scrapped the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The program allowed young undocumented immigrants to attain work permits and affected hundreds of thousands of people.

“The good thing about this is that you come here, have a good time to maybes forget about that for a little bit,” Jose Flores explained. “But the reality is it is always there you know.

Democratic efforts to reach a deal with the president have not worked. Last week President Trump made it clear that “if we don’t have a wall” there will be no DACA deal.

WUSA9