BRADENTON, Fla.-- Hope for people protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program may be slipping away.
President Trump rescinded DACA in April. The program allows 800,000 people - known as "Dreamers" - brought to the country illegally as children, to live and work without the fear of being deported.
That fear is back.
The President's new list of demands for immigration could jeopardize the status of dreamers.
“This is real human beings, real families who are being affected and who possibly could get deported who have done absolutely nothing wrong but were brought here,” said Bradenton Dreamer Patricia Lara. “I was brought here as a child. I don't know what Mexico is. I don't know.”
Lara has lived in Manatee County for almost her whole life.
“If I were ever to be sent there, I would be pretty much lost. I would have to start from the ground up and work really hard to learn how that life is,” she said.
In order for her - and hundreds of thousands of other just like her - to be allowed to stay in the United States, President Trump says this list of proposals must be included.
He's tying a complete immigration overhaul to the lives of 800,000 people living beside you, brought to the U.S. as kids.
For them to stay, the White House is calling for full funding for the border wall with Mexico, from Congress.
That means from your pocketbook with tax dollars.
The whole "and Mexico will pay for it" part will come later if ever.
Another must: Stop Sanctuary Cities.
The President says Sanctuary Cities have to lose millions of federal grant dollars and redefine how closely they work with Feds to deport people for him to approve a new DACA plan.
And he's requiring that it become easier for immigration to kick out kids brought here illegally today and for hundreds of judges and lawyers to be hired to blow through the backlog of immigration cases that exist now.
These are all deal breakers for Democratic leaders.
Now, the possibility that hundred of thousands of people just like Patricia Lara will be deported is becoming a closer reality.
“I know no other country than this one. It really feels like they betrayed me, because I did everything for them. I did everything right. So there's no reason for me to get a chance to earn my way to citizenship,” she said.
And as politicians go back and forth on a solution, real lives, real families in your community are in the balance.
As of now, protections for Dreamers will end in less than two years.
►Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the 10 News app now.
Have a news tip? Email tips@wtsp.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.
