Staying Informed: DACA and MC Students

By Delight Dzansi
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On September 25, 2017, Katie Kelpy visited the Montgomery College Germantown Campus to share important information about the status of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Hillman student Delight Dzansi attended and shared this report:
 
DACA is  “an American immigration policy that allows certain undocumented immigrants who entered the country before their 16th birthday and before June 2007 to receive a renewable two-year work permit and exemption from deportation.” This allows students and workers the chance to stay in the United States to complete their education and to launch their careers.  Workers under DACA receive a Employment Authorization Document from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, which  gives them two years employment authorization. Although it does not provide citizenship, through it many people were able to get better jobs, get an ID or driver’s license, get a first car, pursue an education and help their families with their finances. These things may seem small to most but to students in DACA it means a lot to them because for once they feel like they have an identity, and they have a place.
The new administration is trying to end DACA and if that happens many lives will be affected and destroyed. According to Wong et al., 96 percent of DACA recipients are employed, and if DACA ends those 96 percent will lose their jobs and most likely be deported out of the country. Some of the recipients were brought here when they were young, so they do not know or have anywhere else to “return to.” Others were born here so their parents would be deported, and they would be left here to fend for themselves, while their parents go back to a country they didn’t have a life or a home.
There are people who can help DACA students on all three campuses in Montgomery College with college applications, tuition and more. Their contacts are below.

• Germantown Campus:  Priscyla Aguilar: 240-567-8096
• Rockville Campus: Nicolle Brazil: 240-567-5025
• Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus: Kristal Bent: 240-567-3873

I learned a lot about DACA and what it offers–and also how the new administration’s decisions are affecting so many people my age in terrible ways.  

Work Cited

Wong, Kelly K.; Richter, Ignacia Rodriguez; and Philip E. Wolgin, Tom K. “Results from a Nationwide Survey of DACA Recipients Illustrate the Program’s Impact.” Center for American Progress, 29 Aug. 2017, www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/news/2015/07/09/117054/results-from-a-nationwide-survey-of-daca-recipients-illustrate-the-programs-impact/.