DACA uncertainty causes fear for undocumented students

This is an updated story to reflect President Donald Trump's decision to end DACA on Tuesday.

The day Giancarlo Tejeda learned he would receive DACA, his mother wept.

She and her husband brought Tejeda and his brother to the U.S. from Colombia when Tejeda was only 3 years old, hoping for a better life. Tejeda said his family had more peace of mind after receiving Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program that lets students brought to the U.S. as young children work and attend school.

But now Tejeda’s peace of mind is gone.

“We’re seeing our fears come to life,” the 20-year-old UF biomedical engineering junior said. “We’re fearing for our lives as we know it and our families.”

On Tuesday morning, President Donald Trump ended DACA and said protections would phase out in six months, according to the New York Times.

Tejeda said he got the notification while in class and was immediately angry. He wants to help somehow but doesn’t know what he can do.

“This administration, President Trump, felt that it was okay to erase this program that was helping so many Dreamers, so many people, obtain a better life,” Tejeda said.

There are nearly 790,000 people with DACA protections, according to the Pew Research Center. UF spokesperson Janine Sikes wrote in an email that UF does not track how many of its students have DACA.

DACA offers a chance to go about life without fear of deportation, Tejeda said. To benefit from the program, the recipients fill out an application and pay a fee. The program needs to be renewed every two years, according to the Pew Center.

Diana Moreno, the assistant director of Multicultural and Diversity Affairs, said she’s seen more students stressed and asking for resources, especially in the past weeks.

For Moreno, the fear and uncertainty of being undocumented is a fresh memory.

Moreno came to the U.S. from Ecuador in 1999, when she was 11. Her swearing-in ceremony for citizenship will be Sept. 21 — 18 years after her family brought her over.

“These students are the hardest-working and most resilient students I have the pleasure to work with,” Moreno said through tears. “And I just really hope personally that I will have the chance to continue working with them and they continue contributing their talents to our university.”

She said there are unique struggles for undocumented students. They are unable to receive federal financial aid like most other students, she said. Other challenges are more emotional.

Hernandez, a 19-year-old undocumented UF student who requested her full name be omitted, expected Trump to end DACA, but she still cried over the news.

Hernandez was born in Mexico and crossed the border with her parents when she was 3.

“This is the only country we’ve ever known since we were young, and we don’t want to make it worse,” she said. “We want to make it better.”

Though Hernandez doesn’t know what’s next, she hopes Congress will pass a law granting DACA recipients protection.

“Being undocumented doesn’t define us,” she said. “We’ll keep fighting, and we’ll keep trying to find ways to make a better life for us.”