Thousands of DACA recipients in Connecticut are breathing a sigh of relief after learning the U.S. Supreme Court blocked efforts by the Trump administration to end the program that protects them from deportation and allows them to work and study in the U.S.
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Cristian Padilla Romero, 24, is a Ph.D. student studying history at Yale, and he’s a DACA recipient. He was brought to the U.S. from Honduras by his parents when he was 7 years old and grew up in Atlanta.
He’s back in Georgia now because of the pandemic, and he said it’s hard to put into words how he felt Thursday when he learned of the high court’s decision.
“It was such a matter of best or worst scenario that I think I was trying to stay calm,” he said, “but my first thought was like, wait ... really? Hard to believe at first even just because knowing how things were stacked against us, or it seemed like they were, so it was a very pleasant surprise to say the least.”
Padilla Romero’s mother is undocumented and spent time in ICE detention last year.
Though Padilla Romero calls today’s ruling a big win, he recognizes that his mom’s future -- and his own -- remains uncertain.
“It’s still a possibility that DACA could be terminated in the near future, especially by another four years of the current administration, but at the moment it’s definitely a sigh of relief,” he said.
As a historian, Padilla Romero said he recognizes links between the struggles of young immigrants and those on the streets across the U.S. over the past weeks demonstrating for racial justice.
“There are lots of immigrants from the African diaspora who are also DACA recipients who are from Haiti, from Latin America, from the rest of the Caribbean who are also in this struggle,” he said. “All these issues are connected. It just means that we do have the power to make really good change.”
Hear the interview below:
