Local DACA Recipients Protest Outside Sen. Bill Nelson's Coral Gables Office
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OAKLAND PARK (CBSMiami) – Protesters gathered outside Senator Bill Nelson's office in Coral Gables on Wednesday to demand action on DACA.
Local DACA recipient Nery Lopez isn't cheering a federal judge's decision to block the Trump administrations plan to phase out protections for undocumented dreamers.
Her parents brought her from Mexico to Florida when she was four.
She's a junior at Florida International University living in legal limbo.
"My permit expires in a year and I only have about three semesters left and I don't know if I'll be able to graduate on time if something happens and I lose my status," Lopez said.
Lopez and a dozen other demonstrators talked their way into Senator Nelson's Coral Gables office Wednesday afternoon.
They say they're upset Nelson didn't tie his support of the federal government spending bill to the Dream Act, which would protect childhood arrivals from deportation.
Nelson said he's all for the Dream Act and is pushing to get it passed.
But for the estimated 20,000 dreamers in Florida, there's a fear time is running out.
Elizabeth Blandon is a South Florida immigration attorney who has represented hundreds of DACA recipients.
She's calling the latest court ruling a 'temporary victory.'
"This is gonna battle out in the courts for a few years, unless congress decides earlier, which I hope they will," Blandon said.
She also said dreamers need to follow whatever path to citizenship may work, and it starts with talking to an Immigration lawyer.
"If you can get DACA, great," she said. "But even if you can, there might be other things we can do for you. If you never go speak to an immigration attorney, you will never know."