Supporters of ‘Dreamers’ call for DACA fix
Ariel Lopez’ CLEVELAND — expiration date is Aug. 31, 2019.
That’s the day the 23-yearold’s DACA status ends, and — unless a fix is made — he could be deported from the country he entered as a baby.
Lopez is one of thousands in Ohio who signed up for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA program, for minors who had not come legally into the United States.
At a rally Saturday in Cleveland’s Market Square, he spoke to supporters of the program’s beneficiaries, known as “Dreamers.”
Lopez said his parents brought him from Mexico when he was a year old to seek treatment for a severe skin condition. He’s lived here since, growing up in Cleveland and Lakewood, where he lives now.
President Donald Trump’s administration announced in September it was dismantling the Obama-era program, but then gave Congress a window of time to come up with a legislative fix.
DACA has since become a bargaining chip in negotiations to pass a needed federal spending bill.
Earlier this month, a stopgap spending agreement kept the government from shutting down until Dec. 22. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said after that agreement that Democrats won’t agree to a spending bill without safeguarding the “Dreamers.”
Lopez, who attends Cuyahoga Community College studying business administration, said the need for a fix is urgent.
“We need it now, on the [December] 22nd,” he told the supporters.
Those who signed up for the program or have DACA status deserve a “clean” fix, one that gives them ability to be citizens and to vote without compromise or strings attached, he said.
“I don’t want to be a second-class citizen,” he said.
The recent spate of deportations in Ohio and across the county has caused stress and fear for many, he said.
“I’ve also seen what’s happening with others right now,” Lopez said. “I’d rather something happen for them because families are being torn apart and separated every day.”
About 30 supporters turned out at the rally, and some stood on the Market Square stage holding signs with the DACA “expiration” dates of other Ohioans.
Ethan Goodman, with the anti-Trump agenda activist group Indivisible CLE, led the crowd in calling both Ohio senators: Rob Portman, a Republican, and Sherrod Brown, a Democrat. Together, the group left a message urging the senators to pass a “clean Dream Act now!”
Jose Ramon Munoz, 20, thanked those who came out to support him and others who are hoping for a legal path to remain in the county. Munoz came to the Cleveland area when he was 7.
“I was an innocent child when I came here, and I’ve been raised here my whole life,” he said.
Munoz works now in a Mentor factory and volunteers at St. Mary Church in Painesville, where he prepares meals for people who are homeless. His DACA status expires in 265 days.