CHULA VISTA, Calif – Immigration attorney Dulce Miriam Garcia, a dreamer from Mexico, hopes a lawsuit she filed against President Donald Trump is able to stop the administration from ending the Deferred Action program for the 800,000 young immigrants brought to the United States as children.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program allows young undocumented immigrants an opportunity to legally work in the United States and avoid deportation.
The young lawyer said she is willing to take the case to the United States Supreme Court if necessary. “And the sooner the better, because every day many dreamers lose protection,” she told Inmigración.com
The lawsuit is in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco and could eventually land in front of the highest court in the country.
Garcia could make history by becoming the first dreamer to argue a case in front of the supreme court against the president of the United States.
The lawsuit was filed in September on behalf of six dreamers, including Garcia. It’s known as “Garcia v Trump”.
Although that historic battle may be on the horizon, Garcia hasn’t lost the minimalistic nature that characterizes her. Her office is located in a mundane commercial area of Chula Vista, California. She recognizes that her life has been one with great efforts.
Garcia proudly talks about what she would have to do to pay her way through school. “Sell flowers, park cars, work where I could,” she said.
She never applied for or received financial aid for school but because of her qualifications, the University of Cleveland gave her a scholarship for her first year.
Her family is very close. She lives with her parents and younger brother. Sometimes her mother observes as her daughter and a group of demonstrators temporarily block an intersection in San Diego to protest the cancellation of DACA. Or fasts for days to pressure a senator to support the dreamers.
Dulce Miriam Garcia was 10 years old when she came to the United States from Cuernavaca, a city in the southern Mexican state of Morelos.
She confessed she always wanted to be a lawyer and although she can’t help herself as a DACA recipient, she has helped many of her clients.
Last September, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the suspension of DACA. Sessions called young dreamers “illegal adults”. Garcia decided to use her skills to help because of the what she saw and heard.
“I think the way the government canceled DACA was unconstitutional; I believe it is a valid and strong argument. I think the chances to win the argument are great, to retain and restore the DACA program,” Garcia said.
Sessions left it up to Congress to decide to continue, modify or permanently cancel DACA by March 5, 2018. Then Trump acknowledged his plan was to make the continuation of DACA dependent on other variables. The most important variable was getting the money to finance the border wall with Mexico.
Young dreamers are demanding a clean DREAM Act that allows them to obtain permanent legal residence. They want this law separate from the wall or any other initiative. Meanwhile, time moves towards the deadline of March 5 without a deal from Congress.
Garcia is confident her lawsuit is an effective alternative if Congress doesn’t act on time.
“All my hopes are in this case. As we know, Congress is defrauding us, failing us again, and I have all my hopes that this case could at least maintain the DACA program in place,” she said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: After this interview, a federal judge ordered the federal government to continue accepting applications for DACA renewal. The federal government then appealed the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. A final decision has not been made.
Lea esta historia en español, “La abogada dreamer que tiene demandado al presidente Trump“.