#“they’re misinformed and radical” blanket

[someonedm]

“The Israeli government is a lot more rightwing now” is an understatement. A substantial part of democracy (divide between government, congress and courthouse) is under threat. Capital punishment to terrorists is in the coalition agreements. Politicians want businesses and public services to be able to discriminate against anyone they want (under certain conditions).

[globalwildfire-blog]

The Days of DACA

As of Tuesday, September 5th, 2017, President Donald J. Trump had his administration announced the end of DACA1, the program began by former President Barack Obama and the source of hope for higher education to those who are undocumented immigrants. The battle over the fate of DACA started in 2016 during Trump’s electoral campaign. It is a complex and trying subject fueled by prejudice, hope, media, and determination. The reason behind why the reality of DACA is skewed is due to how the mainstream media has ignited controversy through radical and racial rhetoric; this distraction is why the populace cannot see how DACA benefits students, society, and our economy. Sadly, the mass broadcasting of misinformation has led to the end of DACA and will bring with it consequences for more than just the recipients.

Going back to the origin, in 2012, President Barack Obama started the Deferred Act for Childhood Arrivals or DACA2, in order to give children of immigrants a better chance for attaining high education in the United States. The new Act meant a new opportunity for almost 1.8 million young, undocumented immigrants would have a possibility of receiving a high education3.  However, DACA did not come without some strict regulations and guidelines. In order to receive the aid,

              “DACA-eligible youths must prove that they arrived in the United States prior to turning 16; were under the age of 31 in June 2012; Have continuously resided in the United States since June 15, 2007; are currently in school, graduated from high school, or obtained a general education development certificate (GED); and have not been convicted of a felony, a significant misdemeanor, or three or more other misdemeanors”4

One would think that the strict requirements of DACA would help dismiss counter-arguments of recipients getting a free education for doing nothing. However, hateful rhetoric portrayed in the media caused devastating stereotype of “Dreamers” to spread like wildfire.

Trump’s electoral campaigned played a significant role in tarnishing the reputation of any and all immigrants. One of his most famous quotes comes from one of his announcements during his 2016 presidential campaign, where he says,

              “The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everyone else’s problems . . . when Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you, they’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists. . .”5

In his rhetoric Trump has outlined immigrants, specifically Mexican immigrants, to be problems in and of themselves. He calls them criminals, the source of our drug problem, and rapists; these are some of the most degrading and damaging labels that you could associate with a human being. Trump is blanketing not only an entire group by their immigration status but includes all of those of Mexican or Latin American descent to fall under these discriminator terms without any justification or evidence to back it up. The situation only gets worse when a memo from the Trump administration on DACA is leaked stating that the Act “unlawfully provide[s] illegal aliens with affirmative benefits such as lawful presence, work authorization, access to the Social Security Trust Fund, and access to the Earned Income Tax Credit.”6 Again we see harmful rhetoric, the use of language such as “illegal aliens” instead of undocumented immigrants fuels the skewed idea that immigrants are something criminal and foreign to us and have no right to the resources the United States has to offer. It’s not like this entire country was based on immigrants, but who are we to judge. The constant, discriminatory blasting of Mexican and Latin American people on the media by the President himself caused an extreme trickle-down effect to the mass populace, fueling those who have prejudice opinions that sympathize with the President’s statements. The prejudice against Mexicans and Latin Americans is important because “77% of young people who apply for DACA are from Latin America.”7 Due to the portion of recipients from this demographic being so high, the social perception of these young students is vital to DACA’s survival.

Unfortunately, the rhetoric blasted on the media had a significant effect on the nation as a whole, so far, “in 16 states, DACA students are either prevented from attending their in-state public college or university, or are forced to pay prohibitively expensive out-of-state tuition to attend their home-state public institutions.”8 These are known as lock-out states, who have done everything they can to prevent these children from pursuing their education. Some potential students from these lock-out states have even reported that even though they are U.S. citizens, they, “have been denied access to in-state tuition and financial aid in South Carolina based on their parents’ lack of ‘state residency’.”9  Many of these states claim that they do this for economic reasons, yet they are sorely incorrect. In the case of Georgia, “the state can add an estimated $10 million per year to state and local coffers through a more skilled, higher earning workforce if it allows Georgians to pay in-state tuition at any public college or university if they are eligible to work without threat of deportation.”10 In addition to the additional money the state of Georgia could receive, allowing DACA recipients to attend college, “can add more than 5,000 college graduates to the workforce”11. We see additional numbers and statistics across other states who are considered lock-out states.  To put into perspective how influential this force could be nation-wide, there are an estimated 800,00012 DACA students who are currently enrolled in schools at the moment.

There are plenty more statistics that can be shown to illustrate how much or an economic and workforce asset immigrants are to America, so these few examples provided will give only a glimpse of their attribution to our society. So despite all of the possible aid our immigrants have willingly provided to us, we have now reached a point where a large majority of the states are demanding that they leave. Many people believe that Donald Trump has had a huge hand in the accelerated discrimination against this demographic, some claiming, “President Trump has generally been at odds with large segments of the immigrant community, particularly the undocumented immigrants who have entered the country illegally, so many have interpreted his decision as an attack on immigrants, especially children who were innocent in their arrival here but have since become productive contributors to society.”13 It seems like Trump and his administration has forgotten that for children who were brought over to the states it was an “unchosen undocumented status [that] has hindered their pursuit of higher education.”14 In addition to placing these students in a horrendous situation in respects to their education, it also has dire impacts on their personal selves. Due to his choices, “President Trump’s new legislative and executive orders threaten the health and well-being of citizens and immigrants at all levels of the US health care . . . The future for immigrants and their families in our country is of grave concern. Deportation fears will make health care further inaccessible to the vulnerable with unmet health needs, cause further delays in care, and increase health care disparities.”15 For many, this has literally become a life or death situation. Unfortunately, this dilemma seems to have no influence on the presidential administration as they have thrown hundreds of thousands of students into a bleak situation of scrambling to find a way to keep their education and not get deported, many to a country they don’t even understand.

{ All photos belong to their rightful owners [1,5-self] [2] [3] [4]