They settled down in Houston
and saved money for a car and an apartment. They sent for Victor and
his sister when he was only 4 years old. Victor spent most of his childhood not even knowing his immigration
status. It wasn't until he came home one day with a permission slip to
join his middle school class on a trip to Spain that his mom told him
that he was undocumented. Learning what it meant to be undocumented--
that if he traveled to Spain he couldn't come home--was really hard for
Victor, but he tried to put it from his mind. As the years passed, it got harder for Victor to grapple with his
status. He loved going to school, but he knew as an undocumented
immigrant that his options after he graduated from high school were
limited. He developed depression, and his grades suffered. But a few
months after graduation, President Obama created the DACA Program, and
Victor successfully applied for it. Victor told me that even though he had DACA, he was still too afraid
to talk about his status with anyone. During the 2016 election, this
changed. He confronted his friends who voted for Donald Trump and
shared what losing DACA would mean for him. On September 5, Victor knew there would be an announcement about his
future. He put his phone away and started cleaning his house to
distract him from what was about to happen. Eventually he ran out of
distractions and sat down to watch Attorney General Jeff Sessions' DACA
announcement. Victor began to cry. In the days that followed, Victor
started having panic attacks--sometimes as many as five to seven per
day.
Keywords matched
immigration undocumented DACA immigrant