12 years after being a beneficiary of the DACA Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, the dreamer Osman López has no doubt: DACA changed his life.
He still remembers that afternoon of June 15, 2012 when a friend called him urgently to turn on the television: President Barack Obama was announcing DACA. “It’s one of those moments that change your life. A before and after,” he tells me.
At 21 years old, Osmán was getting ready to go to work at an Italian restaurant, where he earned the income necessary to pay for his classes at a community college in Miami. Ineligible for government financial aid, Osmán needed more than a decade to graduate.
“DACA opened a door for me that had been closed. The people around me continued their normal lives and I hit a wall. Without DACA I would not have finished college, obtained opportunities, and traveled to Washington DC where I now work. Without DACA, my life was stagnant and without a future,” he reflects.
After receiving DACA, Osmán received a well-deserved job offer at HCN / La Red Hispana in Washington DC, where he did his internship. Every day he produces educational multimedia content aimed at the Spanish-speaking community in the United States. Osmán is my friend and coworker.
But 12 years later he has not been able to get rid of a bitter taste in his reflections. DACA was supposed to be short-lived, a first step in the fight for a long-term solution, allowing hundreds of thousands of talented young people, who arrived undocumented as children, a path to legalization.
“We must not lose sight of the fact that, 12 years away, there are still many people who are waiting for that permanent solution that will allow us to live a life without uncertainty. DACA has helped us a lot, it has opened doors for us, but our hands are tied to fulfill our American dream,” he says.
Coinciding with the 12th anniversary of the program, President Joe Biden announced at the White House that DACA beneficiaries will be able to request exemptions that would make it easier for them to obtain temporary visas such as H1-B visas for highly skilled workers, as well as opening the doors to new applicants.
Biden will also allow a route to legalization for around half a million undocumented immigrants married to US citizens, who will not have to leave the country to regularize their status if they have lived more than 10 years in the United States.
Like DACA in 2012, President Biden’s new immigration relief proposal coincides with an election year, and this context does not go unnoticed by all those who benefit from political decisions in Washington. “We understand that we are pieces in a political game. I hope Congress acts now to legalize it. But in the meantime we will continue in the fight for a permanent solution. I am very proud of what we have achieved. It is time for the country, to which we have contributed so much, to recognize it. Our dream has not yet come true.”
