DACA – TrevEchoes Online

“We’re just as driven,” : DACA student talks about giving back, overcoming and his hopes for the future

6May

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DACA, Features

“We’re just as driven,” : DACA student talks about giving back, overcoming and his hopes for the future

By Diana Leyva Photos by Diana Leyva On Gallatin Pike, in Madison, Tenn., there is a small, family-owned Salvadoran restaurant called “El Pulgarcito,". It is here where Trevecca junior, Cristiam Lopez, spent six years, washing dishes from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. Lopez was born in San Vicente, El Salvador, he immigrated to the United States with his family when he was just 2-years-old. An engineering major, Lopez was granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA, in 2016. He is one of the 7,650 DACA students residing in Tennessee. In 2014, his family was able to open “El Pulgarcito” after years of having managed their church kitchen. From 2010 until 2014, Lopez along with his siblings Daniela and Jefferson Lopez would help their pa...

Wanting more and striving for success: One DACA student’s journey and what inspires her

6May

By trevechoesonlineNo Comments

DACA, Features

Wanting more and striving for success: One DACA student’s journey and what inspires her

Photos by Diana Leyva By Diana Leyva Growing up, Trevecca sophomore Norma Soto didn't know she was undocumented. She has vague memories of crossing the border, hiding from immigration officers but she didn’t know what those things meant. However, she did notice certain things. She would overhear conversations had by her parents about being cautious when driving - talks of not having a driver's license and fear of being pulled over. “I knew that wasn't normal. That's not something I heard kids at school talk about. So I knew that was something different about my family,” said Soto. It wasn't until she was in high school, and struggled in obtaining her driver’s license that she realized she was different from those around her. ...

Trevecca students advocating for TPS and DACA recipients

6May

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DACA

Trevecca students advocating for TPS and DACA recipients

By Sol Ayala Mayerly Soto, a sophomore social justice major, plans to pursue a career in social work after graduation. These plans have seemed just out of reach to Soto for some time, but due to a proposed state law passed by the Tennessee State Senate 20 to 7 on Thursday, March 14, Soto can look to the future with a bit more certainty. On Tuesday, March 15, the hallways of the Cordell Hull Building were full of advocates as the Day on the Hill event organized by the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) introduced the Workforce Expansion Bill. This bill is designed to allow people with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) to receive professional and commercial licenses. “Over 7,000 DACA...

21Apr

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Campus News, DACA, Features, Mental Health

Trevecca counseling center works to support DACA students

By: Maria Monteros On every corkboard and poster wall on campus, Sara Hopkins and her team of counselors put up signs on campus inviting DACA and minority students to join their support groups. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients are just as likely to enroll in college as the average American aged 15-32 at 18 percent versus 20 percent, a 2017 study from the Migration Policy Institute indicated. However, only 4 percent end up graduating compared to the 18 percent national average, the study states. In response, the counseling center has begun training counselors to handle multicultural issues. They’ve also partnered with various organizations on campus such as Futuro and the Diversity Council in holding talks and providing the space for these conversations to happen,...

21Apr

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Campus News, DACA

DACA students face pressure of work, grades and the stress of uncertain futures

By: Maria Monteros In high school, Yenin Echeverria joined advanced placement classes, advanced honors and dual enrollment programs— all in preparation for law school. “I was smart like everyone else. I was supposed to go to college like everyone else,” said Echeverria, a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient whose family moved to Boston from Honduras when she was 2-years-old. “I thought I just fit in up until that point.” When Echeverria, applied for college in 2016, the fear of getting deported before finishing her law degree caused Echevarria to change career goals entirely— then came the threat of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in Tennessee where she and her family now live. “I don’t think many students actually realize what it’s like to wake up...

10Apr

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Campus News, Coronavirus, DACA

COVID-19 poses new challenges for DACA renewal

By Nayeli Pena Espinoza DACA students were expecting a ruling about whether they can stay in the country from the Supreme Court to be issued between March and June. What they weren’t expecting was for a worldwide pandemic to bring everything to a halt. Recently, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services closed their offices and rescheduled all DACA renewal appointments. For students who need to renew their status, they face the possibility of losing work or being deported. For students who were working part or full time off campus to pay for their tuition, the financial impact has been significant. Alejandra Alegria Garcia, junior psychology major, and her family had to shut down their restaurant. “We are going on two weeks of not selling food,” Garcia said. “We decide...

1Apr

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Campus News, DACA, Features

As Supreme Court ruling approaches, tensions are high for DACA students

By Nayeli Espinoza Pena Perla Domingo, biology major and freshman, is one of around 100 Trevecca students trying to prepare herself mentally for an anticipated Supreme Court ruling on whether she can stay in the country. DACA, or Differed Action for Childhood Arrivals, is a program started by President Barack Obama in 2012 that allows for individuals who were brought to the United States as children. On September 5th, 2017 President Donald Trump’s administration announced their plans to end the program. After a district court judge’s ruling that DACA remains in place as litigations proceed. DACA recipients have been in legal limbo ever since. The Supreme Court’s ruling is expected in the spring, but the latest would be June. Domingo’s escape right now is just keeping herself busy ...

Trevecca awaits Supreme Court decision on DACA

1Mar

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Campus News, DACA, Features

Trevecca awaits Supreme Court decision on DACA

By Nayeli Espinoza Pena Around 100 Trevecca students could be affected by the Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling on legislation that allows them to attend college legally. Trevecca and other universities around the state are waiting for the Supreme Court to decide if DACA will be upheld. A decision is expected sometime this spring or summer. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals was established by former President Barrack Obama in June 2012. The order allows for DACA recipients, also known as DREAMers, to work and go to school and be protected from deportation. Trevecca President Dan Boone, said there around 100 DACA students currently enrolled at Trevecca, is watching the situation closely, but there is no real way to plan for the decision, he said. “I’d...

21Mar

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Campus News, DACA

The future for Dreamers is still uncertain

By Blake Stewart When the Trump administration announced in September the decision to rescind the Obama era executive order Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the administration gave Congress six months to come up with a legislative solution. The expiration date set for DACA was Mar. 5. The months and days leading up to the Mar. 5 deadline have been uncertain, followed with political battle in Washington and roaring protests led by immigration activists across the U.S. (more…)

18Mar

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Campus News, DACA

Students advocate for Dream Act in D.C.

By Blake Stewart Eight Trevecca students and two faculty members attended an annual conference in Washington D.C. last week to meet with lawmakers to advocate for Congress to pass a clean Dream Act. League of United Latin American Citizens or (LULAC) hosts an annual conference for college students called Emerge, a multi-day Latino leadership conference that provides college students with public policy briefings on issues like public health, education and immigration. “None of us have been to the conference before, so this was a new experience for us," said Sofia Guerrero, president of Futuro. (more…)