The only national anthem they know is the
``Star-Spangled Banner.'' These children grew up in America and are
American in every sense of the word except on paper. Dreamers are studying in our colleges, playing on our sports teams,
serving in uniform in our military, risking their lives on behalf of
what they consider to be their country, growing our economy, obeying
our laws, and most of all, loving our country, too, because it is their
country as well. They aren't undocumented aliens; they are Americans
who happen to be undocumented. And that includes 22,000 Dreamers in my
home State of New Jersey, promising students like Sara Mora, whom you
see pictured here on the floor. Sara grew up in Hillside, NJ. Her parents brought her to this country
from Costa Rica at the age of 3. She was 3 years old. As Sara recently
wrote in the Star Ledger, ``New Jersey has been my home for as long as
I can remember.'' Today, she is a hard-working college student, thanks
to DACA. That is how she was able to get a work permit, find a job, and
work her way through Union County College. Sara was preparing her
applications to transfer to Seton Hall University and earn her 4-year
degree when the Trump administration announced the end of DACA. Now,
Sara says, her future is one ``big question mark. Without DACA, I'll go
back to zero--no driver's license, no job, no possibility of paying for
my education. I'll have to wake up fearing deportation every day.''
When will we accept some responsibility and recognize that it is our
inaction here in the Senate that contributes to Sara's fear every day? Take Adriana Gonzalez of Toms River, NJ. As the Asbury Park Press
recently wrote, Adriana is ``a flute player, a student ambassador, a
girl who would play soccer with special needs children.'' Like most
Dreamers, Adriana isn't known by her peers as an undocumented
immigrant; she is known as a smart young woman with a bright future and
something to contribute to her community. How about Reiniero Amaya of Elizabeth, NJ. He is studying civil
engineering at Fairleigh Dickinson University. I can't think of
anything more backward than deporting a hard-working
student who dreams of becoming a civil engineer. We need civil
engineers. We give people from different parts of the world permits to
come to the United States to do these engineering jobs that we don't
have enough domestic people to do.
Keywords matched
work permit undocumented DACA deporting immigrant deportation