"Our contributions to this country are innumerable. Yet, there’s no path to citizenship for us. We pay taxes, build the economy, and contribute to our communities during a pandemic. Yet, we are rejected and insulted once more. Every day that we live without a path to citizenship, is a day filled with anxiety and fear.” -- Dulce Garcia, an undocumented immigrant and attorney who chairs the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium.

By Miriam Raftery

July 22, 2021 (San Diego) – San Diego immigrant advocates are reacting in shock to a federal judge’s ruling which orders the Biden administration to halt approval of any new Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) applications. The judge also issued a stay temporarily protecting those already granted DACA protections from deportation – but warned that Congress must act to make protections permanent, or the stay might be lifted.

DACA was created through an executive order by President Barack Obama, protecting thousands of young people brought to the U.S. illegally as children to stay here, hold jobs and attend school. Known as “Dreamers,” many have been here nearly their entire lives. The ruling creates an uncertain future for 305,000 DACA recipients and another 854,000 eligible for DACA in southern border states, according to the Southern Border Communities Coalition. Some have been in the U.S. for many years, and some are now married or parents of U.S. citizens.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Dreamers rally; CC by SA-NC

November 23, 2020 (San Diego) – The fate of some 650,000 young immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, or “Dreamers,” has been in limbo during four years of the Trump administration.  But now a court ruling and a proposed key appointment by President-Elect Joe Biden give Dreamers hope of avoiding deportation.

By Miriam Raftery

August 9, 2018 (Washington D.C.) – U.S. District Judge John Bates issued a ruling last week order the Trump administration to fully restore the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.  The program protects many young immigrants who came here as children from deportation.

Trump announced plans to shut down the program and his administration has stopped accepting applications or processing renewals. But the judge ruled Trump’s rationale for dropping DACA, a program created during the Obama administration, did not pass legal muster.

By Miriam Raftery

April 25, 2018 (Washington D.C.) – A federal judge in Washington D.C. has ruled that the Trump administration’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, or DACA, is “unlawful.”

U.S. District Judge John Bates ordered the administration to begin renewing work permits for DACA recipients, but he also stayed his ruling for 90 days to allow the Department of Homeland Security to provide justification for ending the program, which protects law-abiding young immigrants from being deported.

By Vinny Lavalsiti and Matthew Ochoa, reprinted with permission from The Summit at Grossmont College

Images: property of The Summit and Grossmont College's Graphic design program

October 10, 2017 (El Cajon) -- Martha Amezcua was nine when she came to the United States, and she didn't know a lick of English, creating a hefty language barrier between her and her classmates once she enrolled in school. Her silence, because of the language barrier, led to a lot bullying.

By Chris Jennewein

Originally published by Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Photo: An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer escorts a suspected undocumented immigrant. Courtesy ICE

September 4, 2017 (San Diego) -- A new report that President Trump plans to end protection from deportation for 800,000 undocumented immigrants who were brought to America as children drew sharp criticism from San Diego elected officials.

By Suzanne Potter, California News Service

June 24, 2016 (Washington D.C.) --Latino rights supporters are regrouping after the Supreme Court split 4-4 on the constitutionality of President Obama's immigration policy.

The tie lets a lower court decision stand, blocking two of the president's executive orders. One program, Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA), would have given temporary work permits to parents of U.S. citizens and legal residents. The other is an expansion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which gave a reprieve to certain people brought to the U.S. as children.

"This is really sad for the immigrant community," said Antonio Bernabe, organizing director for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. "They are really disappointed, hoping for a real solution. Now they are still fearing for their families, fearing for themselves, living in terror every day."