"Dreamers" fear end to DACA program ahead of Trump's announcement
LOS ANGELES -- President Trump is expected to announce Tuesday that he is keeping a campaign promise and ending DACA.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is the Obama-era program that protects undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children from deportation. Collectively, they're known as "Dreamers."
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CBS News spoke with some who would be affected if DACA is dismantled -- including Cecilia, who asked us not to use her last name. She came to America from El Salvador when she was 9.
Hurricane Harvey has taken everything from the 22-year-old mother to be.
"We had just bought the crib, with so much sacrifice and for it to be destroyed," she said.
Under the DACA program, the college senior can apply for credit and housing. She worries the president's decision could rob her of a chance to rebuild.
"It's like bringing me back to the shadows," Cecilia said.
Her fear is echoed across the country. Thousands of "Dreamers" and their supporters have been protesting in California because they are outraged Mr. Trump is even considering changing DACA.
In California, 27-year-old Anthony Ng was brought to America from the Philippines when he was 12.
He's now a college graduate with a political science degree.
"The biggest thing it did was allowed me to have a brighter future -- a future I could see," Ng said.
After receiving DACA, 26-year-old Reyna Montoya was not only able to drive legally, she earned a master's degree in secondary education, taught high school students and bought a home.
"If DACA were to come to an end that would mean I would be placed in deportation proceedings," Montoya said. "I would be placed in a land that I don't even remember."
Montoya has been in the U.S. since she was 13 years old, after her family fled Mexico.
"This is where we live … and it is terrifying that could be taken away with just the stroke of a pen," Montoya said.
Hundreds of thousands of DACA recipients are currently working and paying taxes.
It is estimated the U.S. would lose $460 billion from the national GDP and nearly $25 billion in Social Security and Medicare tax contributions by phasing out the DACA program.
