But before you get too pulled in to the narrative, remember that the DACAs have mooched expensive American educations and, if working, they have stolen US jobs that belong to citizens by law. Illegal immigration is theft.
The San Jose Mercury put a DACA sniffler on its front page on March 9 — complete with cute pets!
Fernando Hernandez, the man pictured, is 28, so he’s not a kid as the media often portray DACAs. But for an adult, he does seem more anxious than necessary. For example, he wonders whether he can take his car with him if he is deported, even though he is still making payments on it.
Why doesn’t Hernandez call some leftist immigration organization and ask? La Raza et al have plenty of expert lawyers who know the ropes of how to manage the system and screw American sovereignty.
Stuck in limbo, DACA recipients are consumed with fear and anxiety, San Jose Mercury News, March 9, 2018The anxiety keeps coming in waves.
And right now, for Fernando Hernandez and the hundreds of thousands of young DACA recipients whose fate lies in the hands of a polarized Congress and a mercurial president, the despair is crashing in.
“It’s been weighing down on me,” said Hernandez, 28, of Santa Clara, whose mother crossed the border illegally with him when he was 5 and who now works as a lab technician at an LED company. “It feels like I don’t have an identity anymore, like I’m somebody’s plaything, somebody’s bargaining chip.”
As the latest deadlines to salvage the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program passed with no action this month — and U.S. Attorney Jeff Sessions announced the Trump Administration is suing California over its sanctuary laws — the chronic sense of foreboding among immigrants across the Bay Area is taking its emotional toll. DACA recipients — who must renew their applications every two years — are allowed to obtain work permits, social security cards and driver’s licenses without fear of deportation. But if Congress doesn’t act by the time their DACA permits expire, will these young people be deported to the countries they barely remember?
Mental health experts and advocates say the fears and uncertainties plaguing undocumented immigrants and their families are causing “toxic stress” that can have long-term health effects, including problems sleeping and eating, headaches, vomiting, depression and anxiety.
“What we’ve seen in the past six to eight months has ruined people’s lives because of the uncertainty,” said Mayra Alvarez, president of the Children’s Partnership, a nonprofit children’s advocacy organization based in Los Angeles. “It’s this constant struggle of not knowing what the future is going to hold and that daily stress that impacts your well being.”
For Hernandez, those fears manifest in questions big and small, from the trajectory of his future, to the fate of his two dogs, Ellie and Chewy, and to the 2013 black Honda Civic he bought and is still making payments on.
“I have no clue what they would do. Would I still have to pay this vehicle off even if I couldn’t use it? Could I take it with me? I don’t know. Would they come knocking on my door, putting me in detainment facilities, put me on a plane and have someone else take care of my stuff? Would they round everyone up?” Hernandez asked. “I would be afraid of losing everything, losing my friends, having to start over again in a place I barely know. I can still speak Spanish, but as far as living a life there, it wouldn’t be mine.”
