DePaul President Asks Trump To Leave Undocumented Students Alone
(CBS) -- More than 70 leaders in Catholic universities across the country have signed a letter urging the protection of undocumented students under the incoming Trump administration.
Among them: the president of DePaul University.
CBS 2's Sandra Torres reports.
For 19-year-old Brenda Gonzalez, getting a college education hasn't been easy.
"It's already hard enough being undocumented, much less trying to pay for your own education," she says.
But thanks to private scholarships from DePaul and a Go Fund Me page she's been making it work.
That could change if President-elect Donald Trump fulfills his promise to get rid of a program that protects undocumented students like Brenda.
"I am somewhat afraid," she says as Trump prepares to take office.
The program is called the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, known as DACA.
It grants temporary relief to children brought here illegally and allows them to continue their studies.
"All of them came here as children. It wasn't their decision to come to the U.S.," says the Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, DePaul University president.
He's among the more than 70 Catholic leaders who signed a letter hoping to protect those students.
"Can we please actually allow them to stay, allow them to continue to work to finish their education, because they don't have other options in the world. This is their home. We want to keep them here," he says.
Trump said he would terminate DACA because it was an executive order by President Obama in 2012, rather than an act of Congress.
No word yet on if and when that will happen.