Dreamers, Supporters Rally In Dallas
DALLAS (CBS11) - Dozens of people gathered in front of Dallas City Hall on Wednesday to protest President Trump's decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Act, also known as DACA.
DACA has benefited some 800,000 young people known as Dreamers who came to this country illegally when they were just children.
The executive ordered passed by former president Barack Obama allows recipients to stay and work and go to school in the U.S. for two years at a time.
Stephanie Lopez, 23, is a Dreamer who says she was heartbroken to hear the DACA program was going away.
"I was getting ready for work when I heard the news that DACA had ended and it literally brought me to tears," said Lopez.
Lopez came to the U.S. from Mexico when she was 3, but she says her status hasn't kept her from achieving the American dream.
She recently graduated from the University of North Texas with a degree in speech pathology.
She says she plans on continue with graduate studies to hopefully one day become a bilingual speech pathologist and help others here in North Texas.
The tone at the rally was one of frustration and fear, because many Dreamers, and those who support them, are uncertain about the future holds for them.
"When they tell us that they want us to go home…my home is the United States. I will go home to my house in Dallas not another country that is unfamiliar to me," said Lopez.