ONE YEAR POST DACA, DREAMERS TALK ABOUT THEIR SHOT AT THE AMERICAN DREAM

By Henni Espinosa, ABS CBN North America Bureau

June 13, 2013

San Francisco – It’s been a year since president Barack Obama allowed about 1.7 million undocumented youth to temporarily stay and work in America through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and life has never been the same since.

22-year old Dean Santos came to the US ten years ago from Manila on a Tourist visa that soon expired.

“It was just two days after we landed and my mom sets me aside, she goes, ‘kung may magtatanong sa ‘yo about your status, sabihin mo, resident ka,” Santos recalled.

It was lie dean would have to live with for many years.

He was in high school, when he truly realized the impact of being undocumented. When he needed to show proof of residency to his high school, his mother asked their Filipino landlady for help. But when the landlady found out about his undocumented status, she not only refused to help, she kicked them out.

His mother told him never to trust Filipinos again.

“There’s this big distrust within our community about our status. There’s this stigma of being undocumented. That’s like the biggest problem within our community. There’s this big divide between deserving and undeserving immigrants,” he said.

In 2010 Santos made the biggest mistake of his life when he was arrested for petty theft and was placed in deportation proceedings. But DACA came just in the nick of time and he was spared from deportation.

24-year old Emmanuel Valenciano is over the moon now that he has a license to drive. Like Santos, Valenciano came to the US from Manila on a tourist visa when he was only 13 and ended up overstaying. His parents have always told him to stay quiet about his status.

“It eats you up inside. It’s really hard if you can’t tell anybody,” he said.

Valenciano said he felt embarrassed when he would go out clubbing with friends and he would have to bring his Philippine passport because he had no other valid ID to show. The biology major was worrying about his future in America when DACA came to his rescue.

“May future talaga siya sa amerika. Yan ang tinatawag na dream come true!” his mother said.

Undocumented youth in America are now getting more permanent help through the immigration reform bill. If passed, it will only take them five years to become US citizens, the fastest track ever offered by any Dream Act legislation.