For Immediate Release: August 24, 2021
Contact: Michael Earls: [email protected]
Florida DREAMer and TheDream.US Scholar Tatiana Faria in Tampa Bay Times: “America’s promise includes all DREAMers, and the law should reflect that”
New Op-ed from TheDream.US New Scholar Tatiana Faria in the Tampa Bay Times Makes the Case for Permanent Protections for DREAMers
Washington, DC – An op-ed published in the Tampa Bay Times, by TheDream.US new Scholar and Florida DREAMer Tatiana Faria highlights her personal story of growing up without legal protections. Like many other DREAMers, Faria’s DACA application is currently stalled due to the Judge Hanen ruling on July 17th that ruled the program unlawful. Her piece makes the case for why it is now up to legislators in Congress to provide permanent protections for DREAMers. Faria will be starting her first year of college this fall in her home state of Florida.
Read the full op-ed from Tatiana Faria, “America’s promise includes all ‘Dreamers,’ and the law should reflect that,” in the Tampa Bay Times here and find key excerpts below:
“The United States has more than one million immigrants who arrive each year from a variety of backgrounds, countries and traditions, making this place the fusion of diversity that many of us proudly call home. Immigrants are a special asset to this country, and I am thankful to be one of them.
I am a DREAMer because my family moved to the United States from Brazil when I was just 5 years old. Most of us DREAMers arrived in the country before turning 16 and have lived here for more than 20 years. Our birth countries are merely a shadow of our identity.
… For many DREAMers, not having permanent protection through citizenship in the United States feels like trekking down a never-ending desert road. A quality life is not sustainable in harsh conditions of continuous threats to terminate DACA, our only source of reprieve.
… Being a young immigrant in this nation, I found it difficult to navigate through many obstacles at an early age: being undocumented while assimilating to American culture, learning a new language and having limited access to medical services. With the help of TheDream.US, the nation’s largest college and career success program for immigrant youth, I now have the opportunity to attend college in my home state of Florida, and work toward my dream of completing my bachelor’s and then pursuing my master’s. Yet, employment authorization, purchasing a car and driving legally are dreams I still have in adulthood that I unfortunately still cannot achieve.
I am one of the thousands of applicants whose DACA application is currently frozen from being processed or approved since a court ruling on July 17 declared this initiative unlawful.
… Following the recent court ruling from a federal judge in Texas, the future of DACA is uncertain. It is now up to Congress to provide permanent protections for DREAMers. I want to remind legislators of the sonnet written by American poet Emma Lazarus in 1883. Her words were cast on a bronze plaque mounted inside the lower level of the Statue of Liberty. The New Colossus states, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
As a country that takes pride in being the land of the free and home of the brave, I ask those in Congress to stand true to this promise which is meant for all people, including DREAMers. I grew up singing those words every day in my Florida school classrooms. It is time for a permanent pathway to citizenship that proves those words true.”
About TheDream.US
TheDream.US is the nation’s largest college and career success program for immigrant youth, having provided more than 7,500 college scholarships to DREAMers attending over 75 partner colleges in 19 states and Washington, DC. We believe that all young Americans, regardless of where they were born, should have the opportunity to get a college education and pursue a meaningful career that contributes to our country’s future.
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