Ariana is a Dreamer.
Born in Mexico, she arrived with her family in the United States when she was nine. The 29-year-old has been raised and educated in the US. It’s her home.
But her life has been in limbo for two decades. Her parents are undocumented migrants, so her own immigration status has been in limbo for the last 20 years.
In 2001, the US government introduced the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act which grants residency status to qualifying immigrants who entered the US as minors. That demographic has since become known as Dreamers.
Eleven years later, then president Barack Obama enacted the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) that protects Dreamers from deportation and eligibility to work. Their status is renewed every two years. Many DACA recipients are Dreamers, including Ariana, and offered a safety net people like her.
The Trump administration moved to end DACA in 2017 and although no new applications to the program have been accepted, immigrant advocates have managed to keep it partially alive through legal challenges. This meant over time, the more than 800,000 DACA recipients would become eligible for deportation. The program isn’t completely squashed, the decision to rescind DACA is being fought in court.
“At that point I was just dumbfounded, you know, like what am I going to do? I would lose my driver's license. I would lose my social security number. Um, so I wouldn't be able to drive, I wouldn't be able to work,” she said.
“It’s scary being in that middle area.”
Ariana has suffered from the insecurity of her US status changing under each presidency.
“It's been 20 years, 20 years that, you know, I could be sent back at any moment and it's just hard to even think about leaving my children,” she said.
“I don't know what I would do. I have my grandparents in Mexico, but you know, they're not wealthy or anything like that.”
As a DACA recipient, a lot is riding on this year’s election. Although Ariana can’t vote, she is volunteering in the Democratic primaries. Initially campaigning for Pete Buttigeig before he withdrew for the race, Ariana has been pounding the pavement, door knocking, making phone calls and texting to ensure people vote.
“That’s why I’m doing this. Because I can’t vote and I felt like this is where I needed to be. And where I could be more useful.”
Joe Biden is the only Democrat left in the race to be the candidate for the US president in the upcoming election, with Bernie Sanders withdrawing earlier this month.
For Ariana, it’s about beating Trump.
“We’re in for the fight of our lives.”
