SAN ANTONIO - Reaction surrounding the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on the DACA program has left many Dreamers with lukewarm emotions. While it is a victory in one regard, these young, undocumented immigrants still know there's a long road ahead.
What You Need To Know
- Maria Rocha came to American when she was 3 years old
- Recognized she was undocumented when applying to college
- Became DACA recipient and is now a teacher
Maria Rocha came to this country when she was just 3 years old, and only realized that she was undocumented as she started to apply to colleges. That was over 10 years ago.
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As a San Antonio school teacher and DACA recipient, Rocha's become an active voice for immigrants across the state and the nation.
A group of 650,000 undocumented young people can--for the moment--rest easy knowing they won't be deported, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration had wrongly ended the DACA program.
"Yeah, I'm kind of like numb about it," Rocha said. "I call it a small victory. I think a lot of us doubted for this to turn around like this, but they decided on what's most humane for everybody."
We first met Rocha in her classroom in February where she was emotional and worried about the future. But true to form, the majority of that worry is for others that are still fighting for their dream.
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"Heartwarming to see this decision roll out, but now we're waiting to see what it's going to look like now. If they're going to take in new applicants, will they reopen advance parole, will they expand it to those who were unable to receive DACA in 2012? So, we're hoping to expand this opportunity to other people as well." Rocha said.
It was a good day for those young, undocumented immigrants, but not the last day to worry, to fight, or to dream of what still can be accomplished.
"I just want to go back to my home country, which is now a foreign country to me because I don't know life in Mexico, I don't know what it's like to live where I was born. [I would like to] see the beauty of a country that has lots of beauties to be highlighted and elevated for sure, and then come back and resume with my everyday American life," she said.