More than 100 people gathered outside of the Boone County Courthouse on Sunday to show support for DACA and its recipients.
DACA – Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals – allows those who came to the United States illegally as minors to apply to work or go to school in the U.S. while keeping them safe from deportation. However, President Donald Trump has said he will let DACA expire on March 5 unless Congress can come up with a way to renew it.
As of now, nothing has been done to keep the policy alive.
MU senior Devin Grayson said he organized the “Rally for Dreamers Columbia/Mid-MO” because he was disheartened by lawmakers' lack of movement on the subject.
“I want to get people excited, to get people to contact their congresspeople,” Grayson said. “And to get people to act. Because it seems that Congress is not acting.”
The event featured five speakers, all of whom gave short speeches declaring support for DACA and pushing the audience to contact their representatives about the program.
One of the speakers, Ana Garcia, is a DACA recipient. She said the support there gave her hope for the future.
“Every single one of you give me hope – hope that human compassion does exist and there’s always someone that cares,” Garcia said. “Hope that there is possibilities of my dreams coming true and that someday I will become an American citizen on paper. Because although I hold my traditions, culture and native language close to my heart, I am an American in every possible way.”
Grayson said he reached out to Republican Rep. Vicky Hartzler to speak at the event, but she did not respond.
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