As a former DACA recipient, she is used to feeling fear surrounding her immigration status. To protect her identity, we are going to call her "Shweta.”
“We're not coming here with things handed to us. We come here uneducated, earning things on our own, not having anyone to teach us or guide us, just our hopes and dreams,” said Shweta, a former DACA recipient.
For Shweta, those hopes and dreams were in jeopardy before the creation of DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
“I think when I was at the age of either 16 or 17, that’s when I started asking my dad, 'Well, dad, you know, do we have an illegal status?' It's like, what happened? Can you tell me how you came here and what happened? Because, you know, I would like to go to college. I would like to start you know, I would like to have a job, but I can't do that,” said Shweta.
The immigration policy protects those who were brought to the country as children without legal permission from deportation and gives them work authorization. Because of the program, Shweta was able to become a health care worker and now a mentor to other young women.
“DACA came in place. We got so excited, so happy because we said we can finally get a job with benefits and that, you know, you wouldn't have to be afraid of going to work,” said Shweta.
But now, legal battles over the program have put new DACA applications on a pause, leaving Shweta’s brother without the same opportunities in the U.S.
“It's my younger brother that does not have DACA and so it's really hard because he is currently doing jobs, you know, under the table, trying to make ends meet for his future,” said Shweta.
Shweta now has permanent residency and finally feels the freedom to speak up, especially about the fear she felt when former President Donald Trump tried to end the DACA program, before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the decision.
“I was very scared. And that's when, me and my husband, we decided to go forward with the paperwork to file for me to get legal status,” said Shweta.
And as she watches current events at the border, Shweta says her identity remains complicated.
“I will be honest with you, being here for so long, I do not feel American inside,” said Shweta.
Many people believe that the country's immigration policies are complicated and need reform. But how do you change this and what should happen to those who are brought here as children?
Spectrum News 1 spoke with a graduate fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a think tank for public policy.
"I think the solution is to secure the borders, what I mentioned. Because otherwise, what's the solution? Right. If you told me, yes, let's allow new people to apply to DACA and let's just move the deadline, that just means we have no immigration process at all. We just let anybody who came here as a minor obtain a green card,” said Daniel Di Martino, a graduate fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
"And if we do that, imagine how many minors will show up at the border. We have over 10,000 showing up every month. We need to stop that from happening," said Martino.