In Response to DACA Being Rescinded
As a collective
council of all ten regions representing students across the United States,
Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlán (Chicanx Student Movement of Aztlán),
also known as M.E.Ch.A., is heartbroken and disgusted at the Trump
Administrations decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
(DACA) program.
DACA was created
on the foundation that those who applied and qualified for the program would
remain in the U.S. without fear of deportation, allowing them to continue to
work, study and be active members of our society. As our
communities have been shocked into fear based on the decision that that was
made early this morning, we have to ensure our communities that we will do our
best to be reactive – ensuring that they know their rights and what the
decision on DACA means for them.
All of our
MEChistAs, regardless of their documentation status in this country, are
invaluable to the teaching we do in our organizations. MEChAs mission is to
promote higher education, history and culture – we are firmly committed to
protecting the rights of each and every single student, MEChistA or not, who
are part of our communities.
Let us continue
to march, be loud, unapologetic and unafraid until our voices are heard for not
just the 800,000 DACA recipients, but for the 11 million undocumented immigrants
in the United States. Ending DACA and
its protections undermines the work that so many MEChistAs, past and present, have
made to work hard to get to where they are and achieve so much.
¡La lucha sigue!
Sincerely,
Angel Mandujano-Guevara
MEChA de Oregon
State University
National
Co-Chair 2016-2017
