'Their Dream Is Stopped:' Queens Orgs Reeling After DACA Ruling

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — When a federal judge in Texas blocked the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program earlier this month — which protects undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children from deportation —potential program recipients in Queens had their dreams cut short.

“So many young kids were expecting to have their work authorization and their social security," Carmen Gutierrez, the immigrant services coordinator at Queens Community House, told the Queens Eagle.

The Forest Hills-based non-profit usually offers legal assistance to people applying to DACA, but now that Judge Andrew Hanen deemed the program illegal, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) can't approve new applications. "Unfortunately, because of this situation, their dream has been stopped," Gutierrez said of her clients at Queens Community House.

And, as the Queens Eagle reported, Hanen's ruling has impacted about 72,000 potential DACA recipients living in New York — including many across Queens.

Joe, a Flushing resident whose name was changed for his protection, said that Hanen's ruling came as a "blow." Joe applied for DACA in January of this year, and is now among the tens-of-thousands of young people whose applications are in limbo since the DHS is effectively on hold.

“It’s kind of hard to take in," he told the Queens Eagle.

Joe, whose parents immigrated to Queens from Ecuador when he was a baby, was counting on DACA to access federal student loans at Queens College next year.

“I wouldn't have any words to be able to describe how much [being approved for DACA] would mean to me because it's that important,” he told the Queens Eagle. “It’s just something that would facilitate everything, whether it comes to school, the opportunities you can get, like internships, and getting a career.”

Make the Road New York, an immigrant-led social services organization, is focusing some of its resources on fighting Hanen's decision, but have also begun to provide emotional support to community members, many of whom — like Joe — are reeling from the impact this decision could have on their lives.

“We have a large number of folks that are in limbo, wanting to take advantage of being benefited by the program,” Yaritza Mendez, the co-organizing director at Make the Road New York, told the Queens Eagle, adding that the group is providing spaces for people in similar situations to gather and process.

“Now it's just back in square one," she said.

Read the full Queens Eagle article here.