5 Years Later, DACA Recipients Fear Their Stay In U.S. Coming To An End

MODESTO (CBS13) — Young people registered under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals also known as DACA worry their stay in the U.S. might be coming to an end.

Many immigration rights groups hosted demonstrations and rallies across the country on this, the fifth anniversary of the program.

Jahir Alejandro Salinas De Arcos has lived in the United States for the last 19 years, and under the deferred action for childhood arrivals program, also known as DACA, he’s been able to live without any worry.

"Fear still lingers. It's just not as strong as it was before. So, you can't really disentangle yourself from that fear,” he said.

Jahir just graduated from UC San Marcos with a major in anthropology and legal studies and says he’s prepared to fight to stay in the U.S.

The program that’s kept him here may be in jeopardy under the trump administration.

"It’s not only me. I am not the only one that's being affected by these policies. It's all the other DACA recipients; it's all the other undocumented people. It's all the other people that also don't benefit from DACA," he said.

Five years ago, the Obama administration started accepting the first wave of DACA applicants from teens and young adults who came to the U.S. as children but did not have legal status.

"The program has provided many benefits. It has allowed DACA youth to come out of the shadows and be active in society, it's provided them work permits, many of them have jobs, and many of them are professionals, doctors, lawyers, teachers," said Maricela Gutierrez, organizer of the event.

The 800,000 young people enrolled in DACA have to renew every two years to keep their legal status, but many wonder for how long?

“Immigrant youth and immigrant families are critical to our economy."

DACA faces a Sept. 5 deadline set by 10 states that have threatened to take the administration to court unless it agrees to end the program.

"The impact is, you know, it would be devastating, not only the emotional impact to the youth and the families, but this is the only country they know," she said.

Rep. Jeff Denham has co-sponsored two bills that provide a pathway to legal status for people brought here as children. While these bills won’t address everything that's broken with our nation’s immigration system, they're certainly a step in the right direction, he says.