This country has given them education, a place
to live, a sense of freedom, and a sense of future. That future now is
cut short. They have been threatened with deportation in just 6 months. Their employers, their universities, their communities have no idea
whether they can stay and continue their lives, productively and
importantly to them and their communities, those workplaces and schools
where they currently give back. They not only live and work here, but
they give back. Maybe, most importantly, there is the promise that has been made to
them--the promise that was made to them when they came forward and they
provided the United States of America with information--some of the
most personal information that exists--about their Social Security
number, their birth date, their address, and their family. The promise
to them was that information would never be used against them and that
they had a place here for the time that DACA guaranteed it. That
promise now is about to be broken. Great countries do not break promises. The United States is the
greatest country in the history of the world. It should not be breaking
promises to innocent young men and women who know only this country,
speak only this language, have friends here alone, and actually
families here. This rescission of DACA threatens to tear apart
families, decimate lives, and create disarray and derailed futures. We
are a country that is better than this rescission. We are and remain a
country that keeps its promises. At our hearing, I heard from young men and women like Carolina
Bortolleto, originally from Brazil, brought to the United States when
she was 9. She has lived in Connecticut for 19 years. She knew she was
undocumented, but what she didn't know was that getting a job after
school, a driver's license, applying for scholarships and financial aid
for colleges would be out of bounds for her. Seven years ago, she graduated from college with a degree in biology,
but she was stuck. She had a diploma but couldn't use it. To fight for
others like her, she cofounded CT Students for a DREAM. That
organization has grown and become a formidable and powerful advocate
for Dreamers. When DACA was adopted in 2012, it changed the lives of young people
like Carolina. It opened a new vista. She could get a driver's license
and a job at a nonprofit where she was volunteering.
Keywords matched
undocumented DACA deportation