Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the Obama Administration program for undocumented children, might be hanging in the balance with the American government right now, but Dreamers are remaining invigorated in the American Dream and pursuing college scholarships and educational opportunities in the United States.
TheDream.US is a scholarship fund that helps DACA recipients attend college in the United States. The fund is available for 75 colleges in 15 states.
According to the president of the fund, Candy Marshall, “In the last few months, we have seen a sharp uptick in the number of applications for our college scholarships. It’s even surprised me.” She continued to say, “We feared this climate of uncertainty might have a chilling effect, but it’s been the opposite.”
Because of DACA, young immigrants who were brought to the United States as undocumented children, are able to obtain work permits, driver’s licenses, and attend school without being deported. Almost 700,000 young immigrants have been aided through the program.
After Donald Trump said that he would be ending the DACA program, he set the deadline for Congress to come up with a legislative solution as March 5. Still, there is no solution. And moreover, the deadline seemed arbitrary after two federal district courts decided that the Trump Administration must continue accepting renewal applications for the program.
The Dream.US is incredibly important in order for DACA recipients to receive financial help for education because DACA does not give Dreamers legal permanent status or a path to citizenship, and thus, DACA recipients are ineligible for federal student aid.
Usually around 800 to 1000 DACA recipients are aided in their education process by TheDream.US, but this year there have been a record breaking number of 12,000 started applications and 4000 fully completed applications for scholarships.
Despite all the uncertainty in the DACA arena, knowing that Dreamers are still choosing to dream big means everything.
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