(silence)
- (man) I remember the day that I found out
I was undocumented. - Oh, I saw this video.
- This is about immigration.
- (man) I got a call from an admissions office
from a university that I had applied to.
They wanted to see a green card.
I was extremely embarrassed. - (sighing) Damn, that sucks.
- (man) My mother just started crying.
Between her tears, she just started apologizing
and told me that it was her fault and that she wanted
a better future for us.
- This kills me.
Every time I hear about immigration, it breaks my heart.
- (voice-over) That's Juan Escalante.
When he was 11 years old, Juan and his family
came to the United States from Venezuela,
where life had become dangerous.
- Oh no. - (Juan) We were driving
and we stopped at a red light, and a man approaches the car
and he told my mother if she doesn't surrender
her car to him, he is going to pull out a gun.
- Oh my god.
- (Juan) ...kids in the car. - Hey, I hate this.
- That's [bleep] scary.
- (Juan) We picked up everything, we sold all our toys,
and just embarked on this journey.
- Yeah, see?
Gotta get away from that.
- That's one thing that a lot of people don't understand,
and I feel like even when they're told about it,
they don't really process it thoroughly,
you know, the fact that people escape violence.
- (voice-over) Juan made it to college and graduated.
- That's good on the parents because I think
they're mostly thinking of their kids, like,
"We gotta get them to a place where they're not only safe,
but maybe they have some opportunities."
- (voice-over) Because he was undocumented,
he couldn't work.
He worried about being deported.
- (Juan) Even a trip to the grocery store,
and you get pulled over, and that's it,
it's game over. - Exactly, game over.
- (voice-over) But that changed in June of 2012.
- (Obama) Effective immediately... - (fondly) Obama!
- (Obama) ...The Department of Homeland Security
is taking steps to lift the shadow of deportation
from these young people. - Thank you, Obama, for that.
- (Dara) If you'd come to the U.S. when you were under 16,
if you were either in high school or had a high school diploma,
and if you had either no criminal record
or a teeny tiny misdemeanor...
- (voice-over) ...then you could apply for the Deferred Action
for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA program.
- I know people who are in DACA, and they're scared.
- (voice-over) Basically a permit that protects you
from getting deported and allows you to work legally in the U.S.
- I love this. This is such a good idea.
- (voice-over) Juan got this protection,
and so did nearly 800,000 others who applied, but now
that protection is gone. - [Bleep].
This just hit so hard!
- (Sessions) I'm here today to announce that the program--
- Boy, get outta here!
[Bleep] Jeff Sessions.
- (Sessions) ...known as DACA, that was effectuated
under the Obama administration is being rescinded.
- What?
- That's heartbreaking because it's 800,000 people.
That's not a small number.
- (voice-over) DACA was designed to protect
a generation of young undocumented immigrants
known as Dreamers, named after a bill called
The Dream Act, which had been floating around Congress
for more than a decade, and with bi-partisan support.
- That's the coolest thing to me, and that was a huge eye-opener
when I first found out about the bi-partisanship
on this issue, you know?
- (voice-over) The bill would've given unauthorized immigrants
who grew up in the U.S. a way to gain legal status
and eventually apply for citizenship,
and even though it fell short of 60 senate votes in 2010,
the idea was still popular with the American public.
- That's great.
- (voice-over) But in 2014, Obama proposed making
older immigrants eligible for DACA, and creating similar protections
against deportation for undocumented parents
with children who are U.S. citizens.
- Which, yeah, would have been awesome.
- (Dara) And a lot of Republicans said, "Whoa, that's too far."
- (voice-over) A group of-- - Of course.
- People are just so horrible to other people.
I don't understand.
- (voice-over) A group of 26 states sued the Obama administration
over the expansion, and they won.
Then came Donald Trump. - Of course.
I feel like that's been the headline for most of 2017.
- (Trump) When Mexico sends its people,
they're not sending their best.
They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime,
they're rapists. - He makes me so mad.
- Me and my whole family are Latino and hearing that, it's awful
because none of us are any of those things.
- (voice-over) DACA's fate seemed sealed.
- That was my biggest fear when he got elected,
is just I didn't really know what was going to happen to me.
- (voice-over) Nearly eight months into his term,
he still hadn't ended DACA. - (speaking Spanish)
He's a coward!
He can't make the decision, and he gave it to Congress.
- (voice-over) So a bunch of states threatened to sue the government
over DACA again if Trump didn't get rid of it.
- Really, that's what happened?
- (voice-over) A survey of DACA recipients found nearly 70%
got a job with better pay.
More than 60% opened their first bank account.
- Yeah, that's huge.
- (voice-over) 65% bought their first car
and a similar share say they've pursued education...
- It's heartwarming when you see how many opportunities
you're able to now have because of this.
- (voice-over) When these protection expire
over the coming weeks, months, or years,
they'll be back where they started before--
- It shouldn't be happening.
- (voice-over) Unable to work legally, and constantly at risk
for deportation.
- These are just people trying to have a better life.
- It's really one view, you know?
Right now, we're getting a really liberal view.
Gotta have both views.
- America's known for its diversity and we welcome everyone
and we have so many different people and different cultures in our country,
and then you see stuff like this and you're like,
"Okay, what the heck?"
- I lean more towards the Republican side
than the Democratic side, but that does not mean that
I'm a Trump supporter.
This whole situation, I'm sorry, I just cannot agree with that
and I think that's one area where he's in the wrong.
- The thing that I don't get is why so many people
want to bash us down and throw us away for that.
It's just a hard thing to really understand,
even for me, as a DACA recipient, you know?
A lot of these things are really hard to understand.
All we want is a better life.
- Most of them have never even been to their home countries
since they moved to the U.S.A.
Most of them don't speak the language.
Oh my god, I'm tearing up.
I'm not even personally affected by it because, obviously,
I didn't, you know, immigrate here or anything like that,
but it just makes me so mad.
- What people don't understand is that the United States
has the potential to be an amazing country,
but it makes it so hard when you have people like this
in office.
You can't do anything about it,
and that's the hardest part.
Where's humanity gone to the point where
you don't even want people to be successful
for your personal agenda?
- (FBE) So that was a video explaining DACA,
put out by Vox.
Before we go into it, are you personally impacted
by what's happening with DACA in any way?
- No, but obviously we all have access to the internet
and I've seen already hundreds of stories.
- I'm not directly affected by it, however I am hearing
these stories and it's, of course, disappointing to hear.
- These kids don't even know what they're getting into
because it's their parents bringing them over, you know,
but they know that it's better here than it was where
they originally started from.
- I do have family who is undocumented,
and I have family that's undocumented and is protected by DACA.
- I know a lot of people in my classes.
These people worked so hard, and the fact that now
it's like everything's at risk and they're so scared,
that breaks my heart.
- My parents weren't born here, right,
so they were in Mexico and, you know,
things aren't really so good over there.
To drop everything to come to a new country,
(sniffling) to give your not even yet born children
a chance, you know, it's just-- [bleep].
It's just unbelievable.
- I am currently a recipient of DACA,
and I have been since the beginning.
I remember when DACA, in the beginning
before Obama had even announced it,
how there were talks about he was going
to probably do something like that, my mom-- I remember
that's probably one of the happiest times
I've seen her ever talk to me, was when she could
finally tell me that I was probably gonna have a chance at life now.
You're finally able to breath for a second.
It gives you-- you know, because while it still leaves you limbo,
it still takes you out of the shadows.
- (FBE) To someone who is enrolled in the program yourself,
how do you feel now knowing that the program
is in the process of being rescinded?
- That's honestly a scary thought, especially now after
I've benefited so much from DACA, you know?
I'm able to have a full-time job now.
I'm able to go to school.
I'm able to do React.
If it wasn't for DACA, if it wasn't for my work permit,
I wouldn't be able to be here, sitting down, you know,
talking to everybody about this.
- You have all these dreams, you have all these aspirations,
you have all these goals in life, and to think that
all of that might get taken away from you.
While people want me out, I can still learn to appreciate
and be grateful for everything that I've been able to have
in this country, you know, because I know for a damn fact
that I wouldn't have the life I'm living now if I was
still back in Mexico.
That's the whole reason my parents even decided to bring me over here.
- (FBE) So let's get into both sides of the issue.
There are many reasons some people may be okay with DACA ending,
including the feeling that it allows people who entered
the country illegally to benefit from living in the country
regardless of what age they were when they arrived.
It can be a way for potential criminals
to get into the country and that by allowing
that loophole for minors, it will encourage more parents to try
to sneak their children into the country illegally,
and they need to follow the law. - Right, absolutely.
- (FBE) What do you think about this argument?
- It's a fair argument, but at the same time,
one bad apple doesn't mean the whole batch is rotten.
- I honestly do get it, and I do value
kind of seeing both sides to different issues and stuff,
even though I am pretty liberal, but it's really hard
because I feel really emotionally biased
to one side just because my parents themselves
came when they were really young.
These immigrants help our economy.
I feel like there's some value definitely in them,
and, for sure, there should be a legal way
to citizenship rather than shutting your door
and yelling at people for coming in illegally in the first place.
- That argument makes absolutely no sense.
That just proves that we need a better immigration act.
Allow them to have the resources to be able to figure out
and understand how to get here.
- It's illegal, you know, and obviously you want
to abide the nation's laws, but at the same time,
it's like borderline inhumane to separate families
and to say, "Okay, this person can stay, but you gotta go
thousands of miles away from them and maybe never seen them again."
- Those against DACA are always like, "At the end of it, it's a legal issue.
Too bad, you know?
Get in line like everybody else that's waiting to come here legally."
Some people don't have the money to be able to come here.
And there's that saying that desperate times call
for desperate measures, and I feel like
all those against DACA don't really understand that.
- When you grow up in America, you realize that
there's systematic oppression and that the way
that things are set up, the system just does not work to your benefit,
so the only way you're able to thrive is through playing the system.
We shouldn't rescind it.
We shouldn't get rid of it.
We should find a way to fix it.
- If you weren't in a place where, you know--
like Juan and his family, you were going to be robbed
at gunpoint or your child would die,
wouldn't you want your kid to have the best life
that they possible could, regardless of how that ends up being?
I understand the concern of illegal immigrants
coming into the country, but what a lot of people are saying is
"Oh, they're stealing our jobs.
They're bringing in drugs. They're bringing in crime."
But a lot of these people, they're already toeing the line.
They're too afraid of having their DACA removed
and then being deported, that they're not gonna do
anything like that.
You can't really stop this from happening.
It's going to continue to happen.
Even if there is a wall, people are going to find a way
because, you know, when there's a will, there's a way.
These people want better lives for their children,
even if it's going to cost them their lives.
- (FBE) So on the other side, the people who support DACA
will discuss that these kids didn't choose to be illegal
when they arrived and now that they're here,
many of them have become an asset to society,
and DACA has allowed them to come forward
and have since established lives since being told it was okay
to stay here five years ago, but now are being told
something completely different and their families or lives
might have been torn apart because of it.
So what do you think about that argument?
- Yeah, I mean, like I said, I think that's also valid.
Once they get into the nation, I think it should be
up to them whether or not they want to stay.
- I don't think it's an issue of legality.
I think it's more of a moral question.
You have all these young people who are living such prosperous lives
now, you know, and that genuinely want that.
They're not here for any malicious intent.
Why it a human crime to see people thrive and prosper?
- What about the kids who are in the middle of college,
or in the middle of school, and then the government comes in
and says, "You have to go back home.
You can't really be here anymore because you're illegal."
I can't even imagine that.
Everyone should be able to have a chance
to start a life in America.
- You feel betrayed in the country you have given your trust in.
You're like this country is gonna help me, right,
because I'm in the shit position, so I need help from my country
and then the country says, "I'm gonna help you."
But then, nope, not really.
- They finally feel safe in a country where we're like,
"Oh, we're the land of the free.
You guys can come here to start your life,
to pursue something that maybe you can't
wherever you've come from, (sniffling) and they're probably given
this opportunity and now it's just being taken away from them,
no matter when they're putting everything that they have on the line
and, you know, what's going to come out of it?
Nothing because they're not going to be able
to continue their lives here, and all the things
they worked for are for nothing.
- If you've contributed, you've done your part.
You've gone to school, you have a new life,
you're an American, you know?
Paper or not, you do things for this country
that a lot of people don't want to do.
To take basically the will and their rights to be happy--
if you don't have a will to be happy, then what else is there?
- (FBE) So, finally, what is happening now
is a sixth month period before the removal
of the program is fully implemented, which is being claimed
was done so that Congress would have time
to find a permanent solution to the issue,
otherwise, those who are enrolled in the program
will no longer be protected and could get deported.
However you feel about this issue, this is now in the hands of Congress,
so what would you like to say to your representatives
about how to handle this situation?
- Just make the right choice.
I say imagine yourself in their shoes
and imagine what you might be going through
in this situation because if you were in that situation,
you wouldn't want to be taken away from what you were trying
so hard desperately to work towards.
- I appreciate what you guys are doing because this is a tough ass decision.
It should be family-based and maybe not citizenship-based.
- If you're going to rescind DACA,
if you're gonna get rid of DACA, do it because you're gonna help
these immigrant children in an even better way.
Protect these people.
That's your job, right? Do your job.
- The best way to handle the issue is to rework
the entire immigration program because you need
to make it so it works for everyone in their favor
and their situation.
Find a way to allow the immigration act
to allow the people that are already here
and working and providing for this country
and keeping our economy up.
- My parents were able to get amnesty under President Reagan,
and I feel like it should work the same way here,
where you've promised these DACA students and workers
something and you need to keep your promise
and at least give them citizenship.
- All of these kids, they did not choose to come here.
They were brought here by their family to pursue a better life.
They are not doing anything wrong and it doesn't make sense
to take, you know, to take this program away from them.
Something needs to be done to help them
because they're just innocent people.
- Right or left, Republican or Democrat,
you're a human.
And these people are human.
There's a lot of opportunities here that are literally nowhere else,
and a lot of people aren't exposed to that,
but I'll tell you what, there are people
that literally have nothing else to live
than the fact that they're gonna be able
to make it here.
- Ideally, what I want to see is-- not only for myself,
you know, but for every other Dreamer,
at some point, we're no longer stuck in limbo,
we're no longer thrown back and forth because, genuinely,
what I want is a life where I can focus on being American.
I want to focus on having a family.
I want to focus on buying a house.
I want to focus on all these good things
that you can only genuinely probably get in America,
you know, because that's the American dream.
And none of that comes easy.
Trust me, I know that, but I think that's the power
of Dreamers-- we don't quit.
(silence)