They are students, doctors, nurses, teachers, and
entrepreneurs making real and meaningful contributions to our society. They are simply asking for the opportunity to pursue their dreams--
hence, they are called Dreamers--in the only country they know, the
United States of America. It is why so many people across the country
are speaking out forcefully against the President's decision to end
DACA. While I was back home in Hawaii last month, I met with activists,
community organizations, and State leaders to rally support for DACA
and to call for establishing permanent protections for these Dreamers
across the country. Hawaii is home to 600 DACA recipients and thousands
more Dreamers who could have qualified for the program but were
reluctant to expose themselves to the government. I would like to share
some of their compelling stories. Gabriella came to the United States with her family in 2001, fleeing
violence in Brazil. They came here out of love and hope for a better
future. Every day Gabriella and her family worried about being sent
back to the violent situation they escaped. Gabriella graduated from
high school with a 3.8 GPA and had big plans to pursue higher
education, but at that time she couldn't enroll in college because she
was undocumented. DACA changed her life. She said:
I had been living here undocumented for 10 years and had
seen a lot of opportunities pass me by. I knew I couldn't
continue to live this way.
[DACA] changed my life for the better. Since getting DACA
in 2012, I have been able to get a driver's license, to have
a career, to go to school, and leave my home every day
knowing that I could come home to my family at the end of the
day. Another story. Mahe came to Hawaii from Tonga when he was a child. When he turned 21, he learned he might be deported. Before receiving
DACA, the only job Mahe could find was building rock walls with his
uncle in Waialua. He didn't have a car to get to work. He woke up at 4
a.m. every day to catch a bus to Pearl City, where he switched buses
for the ride to Waialua. After working in the hot Sun all day, Mahe would have to take a 2-
hour bus
ride home to get to bed at 10 p.m. before starting his routine over
again the next morning. Since I got DACA, life has changed a lot. I applied for my
first job and got it. I worked really hard and made
supervisor. They gave me a company car and a company phone. It was really, really nice just to know that with hard work
and effort you can get places. Eliminating DACA would erase the meaningful economic and social
contributions Dreamers like Gabriella and Mahe have made to Hawaii and
our country. Multiply their stories thousands of times, and you get a
sense of how many lives are being shattered by a President who wouldn't
help the young people he claims to ``love,'' even as he was ordering
their probable deportation. According to a report from the Cato Institute, rescinding DACA would
cost the State of Hawaii $577.5 million in the coming decade from
unrealized economic growth and lost taxes. That is from 600 DACA
participants. There are 800,000 of them throughout the country. Just
the economic loss alone would be tremendous. Of course, the contributions Dreamers make to our country cannot and
should not be reduced only to a dollar figure. Standing up for them and
their American dream is a moral imperative. It is why leaders from
across Hawaii are speaking about DACA and protecting Dreamers. In an email to students, faculty, and staff yesterday, the president
of the University of Hawaii, David Lassner, reaffirmed the university's
``commitment to serve all members of our community, regardless of
citizenship status,'' stating:
Well over four years ago the UH Board of Regents adopted a
policy to extend eligibility for resident tuition rates to
undocumented students, including but not limited to those who
have filed for DACA. I remain on record, with hundreds of my fellow college and
university presidents, in public support of DACA. Over the
next months we will strengthen our urging of Congress to
extend the DACA program and protect the dreamers of our State
and our nation. He goes on:
Our undocumented students are an integral part of our
community and will continue to be extended all the rights,
privileges, and services available to our students, from
application through graduation. As our state's only higher public education system we have
a deep responsibility to provide high-quality affordable
education to advance all our people, our communities and our
islands. That mission requires that we support and celebrate
diversity, respect and caring.
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