Since the Obama administration implemented the policy in 2012, nearly 800,000 young adults have been granted a renewable two-year reprieve from deportation and eligibility for work permits and driver’s licenses through the program. About 15 percent of DACA recipients are Texas residents, according to the latest data released by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Karen Reyes, an early childhood special education teacher in Austin, is a DACA recipient. Some of her students are undocumented or have parents who are.
Reyes had just started her master’s program for deaf education when President Obama announced the DACA program in 2012.
“I remember I went into a parking lot of a Taco Cabana,” Reyes said of receiving a phone call from her mother while she was driving. Her mom wanted to tell Reyes that she had already contacted a lawyer who could help her with her DACA application.
By December, Reyes had received her social security card and driver’s license. After living 22 of her 24 years as an undocumented person, she said she finally felt as American as anyone else, able to work and drive legally and without the fear of deportation.
It didn’t cross her mind that her DACA status might be revoked until the end of President Obama’s second term.
Reyes learned of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ announcement on Tuesday after her school day had ended, though she said she suspected what it would be about the night before.
“I have to go about my day as if nothing is bothering me,” she said, because her students—3- and 4-year-olds who are deaf or hard of hearing—require all of her attention.
DACA in Central Austin
In 2014, there were 1.65 million undocumented immigrants in Texas, according to the Pew Research Center’s most recent estimates. More than 13 percent of K-12 students in the state had undocumented parents, per the same survey.
Austin ISD’s enrollment for the 2016-17 year was 58.1 percent Hispanic. The school district does not keep a record of undocumented or first-generation students.
“All are welcome in Austin ISD, and we support a large, diverse group of Austin ISD students,” a spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday.
Richard Rhodes, the president and CEO of Austin Community College, released a similar statement in response to the Trump administration’s announcement.
“While we will always follow the law, ACC has been and will remain an open institution to all students,” he said. “The repeal of DACA will not change how we educate our students and our commitment to their success.”
Gregory L. Fenves, president of The University of Texas at Austin, reaffirmed his commitment to protecting DACA in a letter to students on Tuesday.
"In November of last year, I joined hundreds of other university presidents in signing a letter to President-elect Trump asking that DACA be maintained," he wrote. "And I will continue to join higher education leaders in urging the U.S. Congress to quickly pass long-term legislation to support those whom DACA has enabled—young immigrants who have spent most of their lives in the U.S."
Generally, Austin’s political leadership has supported DACA.
Austin City Council Member Greg Casar, the son of Mexican immigrants, represents District 4 in North Austin.
"As a city, we will fund immigrant legal defense services, and we will refuse to let our police become deportation agents," Casar said in a statement on Tuesday. "We must come together as a community to take care of those whose jobs or homes are ripped away by this president."
Council members Delia Garza, Sabino Renteria and Alison Alter, as well as Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt have also released statements or tweets affirming their commitment to DACA recipients.
“It would be shameful to deport children from the only home they’ve known, especially as Mexico leaps to assist with the Harvey relief effort and our city proudly offers shelter to all who need it,” Austin Mayor Steve Adler said in a statement on Tuesday.
A majority of Americans agree with him.
Sixty-four percent support DACA, according to a recent NBC News/Survey Monkey poll. And in April, 73 percent of Trump voters supported “Dreamers,” as DACA recipients are sometimes called, being allowed to stay in the U.S. and become legal residents, according to a Morning Consult poll.
“The reality is that a lot of the students are coming from undocumented families or mixed-status families,” Reyes said. Some of her students’ parents have confided in her about their own undocumented status, and she suspects others may be undocumented as well.
“As an undocumented individual myself, I know the signs,” Reyes said.
AISD employees rally
On Tuesday, Reyes met her mother after school, and they drove to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office, where Education Austin, a professional organization for AISD employees, had organized a rally.
On June 29, Paxton and nine other attorneys general, submitted a letter demanding that President Trump end DACA by Sept. 5 or face a lawsuit.
Following Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ announcement on Tuesday that the Trump administration planned to end the DACA program, Paxton released a statement expressing his support for the decision.
“Had former President Obama’s unilateral order on DACA been left intact, it would have set a dangerous precedent by giving the executive branch sweeping authority to bypass Congress and change immigration laws,” he said on Tuesday.
If Congress does not enact new immigration policies in the next six months, those with DACA status will become legally undocumented, unable to work, drive or access health care legally in the U.S.
Despite the uncertainty of her own status, Reyes was optimistic following the rally.
“Even though I did feel scared and disappointed and a little bit betrayed and anxious, I saw all our allies there, and it just filled me with so much hope,” she said.
A rush to renew
Although President Trump set a deadline of March 5, 2018, by which to end DACA, many recipients of the program have a much more pressing deadline, less than a month away.
For DACA recipients whose work permits and status expires on or before March 5, 2018, renewal applications must be submitted by October 5, 2017. This applies to a quarter of the nearly 800,000 DACA beneficiaries, according to America's Voice Education Fund, an immigrant rights activist organization.
The cost of a renewal application is $495. Because of the short notice, many DACA recipients will have to scramble to complete their applications.
"We've definitely seen an influx of calls," Edgar Navarrete, a paralegal and community advocate at the Austin office of the Equal Justice Center, said.
Since the announcement on Tuesday, the nonprofit law firm has prioritized helping DACA recipients submit renewal applications before Oct. 5. Its staff is working to schedule as many appointments as possible in the interim and is in talks with other local organizations to schedule free DACA clinics.
Only those whose DACA status expires between March and September of this year are eligible to apply for renewal before Oct. 5, Navarrete said. If their applications are successful, their protection from deportation and work authorization would last for two years, even if the program is shut down or modified by next spring.
Regardless of when one's DACA status expires, Navarrete has the same advice: "First things first is checking in with an immigration attorney," who can provide guidance about next steps and possible other immigration relief options, he said.
'I don't think they would deport me'
Daniel Ramirez, 22, recently moved to Austin for an internship at Education Austin.
His family is from South Houston—their home was flooded by Hurricane Harvey—and he graduated in May from Middlebury College in Vermont, where he majored in philosophy.
Ramirez was 18 months old when his family came to the U.S. from Mexico. He was in the fifth grade when his mom told him that he was undocumented.
“I didn’t really know what that meant at the time,” he said.
It wouldn’t sink in until Ramirez started high school, when his peers began applying for jobs and getting their driver’s licenses.
“It was pretty scary just driving all the time before DACA,” Ramirez said. Living in Texas, he had to drive, even though he knew that a minor traffic violation could reasonably result in deportation for himself and his family.
In 2012, Ramirez was approved for DACA status. Gradually, his anxiety subsided.
“That sort of fear doesn’t disappear immediately because it just festers for years,” he said.
Ramirez moved to Vermont for college, where he worked alongside professors, writing about the philosophy of language and science.
In February, his two-year DACA status expired, and he applied for a renewal. While awaiting an extension, he had to quit his jobs as a research assistant and tutor on campus because he no longer had a work permit.
Ramirez took a job on a dairy farm in the interim.
“It’s just super hard work,” he said, and very different from his previous jobs working with computers and professors.
Last week, Ramirez learned that his DACA renewal was approved. Typically, such a renewal would ensure his freedom from deportation and eligibility for a work permit and driver’s license for two years. Because of Tuesday’s announcement, it may only apply for the next six months.
“It’s a big emotional thing,” Ramirez said of the prospect of losing his DACA status.
“I just feel really American,” he said, “and I think I’m acting kind of American by being outspoken about my status.”
Like Reyes, he is optimistic about the future, buoyed by the response to the Trump administration's announcement in Austin and throughout the country, he said.
“I don’t think they would deport me,” he said. “That’s just insane.”
For a list of organizations that provide legal services to undocumented immigrant communities in Central Austin, see this list.
