Early August, a new Netflix docu-series came out called Immigration Nation, which sounds like a documentary of our founding fathers who migrated from Europe to create this beautiful country. Instead, it's more about ICE finding fathers and separating them from their children.

The series wakes you up to a sobering inside look at ICE, our Immigration Customs Enforcement system, and what migrant families face when looking for a better life in America. One of the issues the docuseries sheds light on is how the lives of kids are affected by the system. As educators we have these kids in our classrooms, schools, and communities therefore after watching the docuseries, I wanted to talk about the systems that limit these students to continue their education today.

In the last few years, the term “DREAMer” has been used to describe these undocumented children who were brought to the United States, who have lived and gone to school here, and whose families have big hopes and dreams for them to have a better future. The term DREAMer originally took its name from the bill in Congress. It’s an acronym for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act that would have granted legal status for these children. Several versions of the bill have been introduced in Congress since 2001 but it has never passed.

Kind of like a kidney stone...

After the DREAM Act did not pass in Congress several times, President Obama issued an executive order called the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals or famously known as (DACA) which should not get confused with DECA where privileged kids get to start their campaign trail to future CEOs and politicians.

That joke might get me canceled 

Speaking of cancel culture, Trump administration is canceling everything. It’s canceling TikTok, canceling taxes for corporations but what I really want to talk about is them canceling new applications for DACA.

Why?

Well on September 5, 2017, the Trump Administration ordered to end the entire DACA program. This was led by Jeff Sessions who also got canceled by Trump and lost Alabama's Republican primary for Senate after being an Alabama Senator for 20 years.

DACA enables hundreds of thousands of young people who came to the U.S. as children and met several key guidelines. It allows non-U.S. citizens who qualify to remain in the country for two years. Recipients are eligible for work authorization and other benefits like a driver's license and are shielded from deportation.

In June of this year, the Supreme Court finally made a decision that blocked the Trump administration from ending the DACA program altogether.

One of my colleagues Rubi Franco Quiroz who is Head of Impact at Student Success Agency was a DACA recipient. I zoomed with Rubi to get her thoughts and personal story about DACA.