SAN ANTONIO — Paloma Arellano nourishes San Antonio through her family’s food truck, Rosa’s Kitchen.

She’s called San Antonio home for most of her life. Arellano’s family came here after fleeing from danger in Mexico.

“It’s crazy, it’s really drop your things, do what you can and go and then start from scratch,” Arellano said. “You don’t know the culture here, you don’t know the language, you don’t even know how to apply for a job.” 

Arellano says growing up in the U.S. constantly reminded her she was an immigrant — not having health insurance, paying taxes, but not eligible for housing or scholarships. 

“It’s pretty hard to get people’s mind to accept that we are here and we trying to contribute the best way that we can,” Arellano said. 

Arellano became a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA recipient, referred to as a “Dreamer,” when she was 15. She got a job to pay for the application fees. 

“To renew that every two years, $500 every two years… life changes,” Arellano said. 

Life is about to change again. Fees for various immigration-related applications are increasing April 1, including DACA. 

Arellano saves every dollar possible by completing the application by herself. She’s informing her friends, who are also Dreamers, about the increase. 

“Y’all should do it. It’s going to save you some money because it’s going to be very pricey. it’s going to be $555 online,” she said to her friends.  

The fee is going to increase to $605 on paper if filing is done without an attorney. 

“For that demographic, which are usually young people, that’s a lot of money,” Felix Villalobos said. 

Villalobos is an attorney for RAICES, which offers free and low-cost legal services for immigrants. 

“It’s unfortunate that we have an immigration system that forces the person to choose between two important things to spend their money on,” Villalobos said. 

For Arellano, it’s her DACA status and running a small family food business, an industry struggling with inflation. 

“Under the Biden Administration what they stated was that they needed to adjust for inflation,” Villalobos said. 

The administration is making some applications free, but not DACA. 

“It’s kind of interesting that the government is saying we need to increase our prices, but yet we can give you other free applications,” Villalobos said. 

Arellano says it can be overwhelming, but she and her family are adapting. 

“That’s what our life has always been about, though. Having to take on so much on your shoulders and then just like no te rajes (don’t give up), you just got to keep going, you will figure it out,” Arellano said.