The news broke out around a quarter after 9 a.m. on Thursday. The push notifications went off the charts.
Finally, that long-awaited decision was here. And it was good news.
For more than half a million Dreamers, it was a respite. Not permanent, nowhere near perfect, but not a small victory either.
“I woke up to the news today actually,” said JP Document, a DACA recipient and college student I had the pleasure to meet while reporting in Connecticut, un hermano peruano who started out his first year at Tufts University in late 2017 at the same time that former Attorney General Jeff Sessions declared the administration was rescinding DACA.
Sessions could barely hold back a smile during that announcement. Yo no me olvido jamás de esa mueca. I can never forget that grin. It’s what pushed Documet to join an immigrant advocacy group that same month.
But on June 18 it was a different story, even if for a day after years of constant worry and now amidst a goddamn pandemic.
“I wasn’t expecting it at all, but it’s very good and a bit relieving,” Documet said.
The 5-4 ruling, with Chief Justice John Roberts siding with the liberal bloc of the court, effectively preserves DACA for the time being though it doesn’t rule out the possibility of the current administration trying to do away with the program again, something that would be highly unpopular some months away from the November election.
“(This ruling) does mean that DACA is here to stay. It has been ruled a legal program and the way in which the Trump administration ended it has been ruled to be incorrect,” said Randy Capps, a director of research at the Migration Policy Institute.
For Brenda Esqueda, another Dreamer and Harvard College student, the court decision today was one that finally made sense but the victory is short-lived unless there is an actual law from Congress that allows Dreamers the ability to plan for a more certain future, a chance to live a normal life.
“I’m grateful,” said Esqueda, una paisana de Mexico. “But I would be grateful if we could get some concrete legislation which would stop undocumented folks from having heart palpitations every year.”
The fight is far from over and that’s also while these two students in their early 20s are weathering the shitshow that is 2020 as they near the latter half of their university years.
Dreamers contribute to the economy, to our communities and to our health. They’re advocates, teachers, lawyers, students, friends, doctors.
I’ve written before on how the US Government has declared migrant laborers and others as “essential workers”, a large number of whom don’t have legal status in the country. Despite their essential work, only those with specific work authorization, green cards or citizenship were able to obtain federal aid, such as the stimulus payments that were sent out in the last two months.
They keep the country running even as this country keeps them on the run, constantly looking over their shoulder.
In different ways, Documet and Esqueda, who both came to the US from their respective countries at age six, say it’s easy to become cynical and to expect the worst outcomes when it comes to immigration policy.
“It’s frustrating how normalized it’s become,” Esqueda said, adding that during the year she’s helped in advocacy efforts for Black Lives Matter and other Latinx Dreamers in demanding important change. “I’m relieved we are able to continue focusing on that.”
As the two students continue onward in their last years of undergraduate and 2020 continues to play out, the objective remains the same, what it’s always been. Ciudadanía. Representación.
“I just hope people don’t stop pushing for a DREAM Act or smoother path to citizenship because DACA was never a long term solution and we’ve been waiting over a decade for one,” Documet said.