Around 70 million children currently reside in the United States, according to the U.S. Census, and they grew up being taught of the great opportunities the land of the free offered for its noble citizens. “The American Dream” — so it was called.
According to the Library of Congress, this idea of the dream was defined by James Truslow Adams that “life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement … it is a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to … be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.”
When did this dream die?
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday, Sept. 5 that he was making plans to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), an Obama-era policy. DACA, passed in 2012, allows those who came to the United States illegally as young children to remain in the nation without fear of being deported from the only place they’ve ever known. These fears subsided five years ago when former president Barack Obama launched DACA.
Unfortunately, they have returned with President Trump’s announcement. The President is claiming that he is taking back jobs for legal, hardworking Americans. While he is, indeed, keeping one of his biggest campaign promises, he’s taking away jobs from immigrants who have done nothing wrong but be born to parents that simply wanted a life in the United States. He’s threatening to deport thousands of people from the only country they ever knew; the country they received an education in, a job in, and a life in. They would end up in a country completely foreign to them, the country’s name not nearly as synonymous with the word “home” as the United States.
Killing DACA is a shameful move — a person should not be able to punish others for the faults of someone else. This program is specifically geared to people who were brought here as children as undocumented immigrants, and thus they had absolutely no say in the decision. At such a young age, children just cannot decide for themselves to illegally enter a foreign country, it’s not exactly possible.
“Regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth.” “Opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.” These words by James Truslow Adams have been the guiding words for immigrants looking for a better place to live and raise their children. These ideas have been a core philosophy throughout American history; that any person can come to the United States and prosper if one puts in the work.
These philosophies never said that despite how hard a person works, the government still can decide to kick that person out anyway to a country completely unknown to them. The United States used to be a beacon of light that signaled hope for a better life.
A lot has changed in the past year. There were increasingly high hate crime rates and rising fear, according to The New York Times. However, this country can rise up to that standard of opportunity again.
Already, thousands of people have protested against DACA’s removal, and even more have called their representatives and expressed public discontent over the issue. More people must rise up and make the White House listen to the people it is supposed to serve.
Change is an ideal that can come slowly, but it can still come if people are willing to put in the work needed to make it happen such as protests like this one.