Despite inaction by Donald Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress on permanent legislative protections for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients and other undocumented immigrant youth, Dreamers are still living their lives—or at least trying to. They include Alonso Reyna Rivarola, one of the estimated 10,000 DACA recipients who call Utah home. Despite nearly 90 percent of Americans supporting permanent protections for undocumented immigrant youth, the GOP-led Congress remains at a standstill for young people like Reyna Rivarola:
If nothing changes legislatively in the next nine days, he’ll be able to apply for a renewal of his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status. If his renewal application is accepted, he can continue to pursue his education by participating in the sociology doctorate program, which he’s already been accepted into, at the University of Utah.
But if he’s not able to renew DACA, he’ll have to have a “plan B, C and D,” he said Monday.
That’s a frustrating reality for young immigrants who know no other place but the U.S. as their home. Utah’s senior senator, Republican Orrin Hatch, should really be among those leading the charge. Along with Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, he introduced the very first version of the DREAM Act way back in 2001. But in 2018, Hatch has yet to endorse the DREAM Act introduced last year by Durbin and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Mitt Romney, running to replace Hatch, said in 2011 that he would have vetoed it as president:
“Even at the local level, all of our [Utah] representatives support a different bill,” Reyna Rivarola said. “Our own congressmen and [congress]woman and senators could not come together on this. That was really disappointing.”
Utah’s 4th District Rep. Mia Love supports the USA Act — a bipartisan effort that would protect DACA recipients from deportation while securing the U.S. border — and undoubtedly wants legislation that provides DACA recipients with a pathway of citizenship, she told The Salt Lake Tribune editorial board last month.
Statements of support are great and all, but they don’t protect immigrants from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. What they need is a vote, one that Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan hasn’t allowed on the USA Act, or the bipartisan DREAM Act, despite him telling a frightened DACA recipient during a televised town hall last year that she shouldn’t worry about ICE. So, young immigrants like Reyna Rivarola and Leezia Dhalla continue to wait, to hope, and to live in limbo.
