My parents tried to shelter me from the realities of the world in order to protect me from certain hard truths. But when I grew up to find out about my family’s undocumented status, it didn’t protect me from the reality that I wouldn’t have the same opportunities as my friends and classmates.
Like all immigrants, DREAMers– undocumented immigrants who came here as children and have had no way to adjust their status – can attest to the struggle of assimilation into the American culture. And the fears and uncertainties around being undocumented compounds that struggle. But once I turned 16, everything changed thanks to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
All of the nearly 700,000 DREAMers with DACA have their own unique story. In my case, as a Nigerian immigrant, I am a reminder that DREAMers represent a diverse group of countries of origin around the world. Yet my story, and every one of the other 700,000 DACA recipients’, also highlights a shared reality: though DACA is a life-changing program that has strengthened our futures and our country, a temporary status isn’t the goal or ultimate solution for us.
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