Chanting 'When our dreamers are under attack what do we do? Stand up fight back!' and calling for 'no borders,' recipients of the Obama era Deferred Action for Childhood Admissions (DACA) program rallied at Texas A&M San Antonio today demanding that DACA be enshrined into law, complete with a path to citizenship, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
The rally came on the date which is the deadline for the young people who are covered by DACA to apply for permission to stay in the USA for another two years.
Jessica Azua, who is a 'Dreamer' from Mexico and a recent graduate of A&M San Antonio, says the fact that President Trump has decided to phase out DACA in six months unless Congress acts makes her uncertain about her future.
"Every day, every hour, every minute, we are under a lot of stress, a lot of pressure," she said. "A lot of anxiety."
Many 'Dreamers' at the rally said they have no memory of the country that their parents left to come to the USA when they were babies or children, and would have no knowledge of how to live in that country if they were deported.
Azua called on U.S. Rep. Will Hurd to take action to vote for making DACA permanent.
"He needs hear that what we want and what we need is a clean 'Dream Act'," she said. "We need long term solutions."
DACA covers people who were brought to the U.S. as children by their illegal immigrant parents, on the idea that not only do they know no other country than the U.S., but U.S. taxpayers have spent money to educate them at state universities like Texas A&M San Antonio.
"My first birthday was here in the United States," one 'Dreamer said. "Guess what, I am an American."
Some of the people who were demanding the right to remain in the U.S. at today's rally don't seem to care much about the United States.
"The United States profits from war and capitalism," one woman said. "We love Mexico but you forced us here."
She says her parents came to the U.S. because they were 'running and fleeing from war' that was caused by the U.S. government.
"Ironic that we are being called immigrants? We are aliens. That's ironic because history tells us that this land is indigenous. This land was stolen from us by colonists."