America’s soul as a nation of immigrants is in peril

I wrote this essay about the end of DACA for The Guardian.

The Trump administration appears determined to kill off the idea of the United States as a land of promise, opportunity and equality for all. With a stroke of his pen, the president has potentially exiled hundreds of thousands of young people in the United States to a life in the shadows. Their crime? Coming to America as children.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) program – which Trump ended on Tuesday – offered temporary reprieve from deportation to nearly 800,000 unauthorized immigrants who entered this country before the age of 16. By repealing it, Trump and his administration sent a signal that they are dead set on deporting not only Daca recipients but the American Dream itself. I would be infuriated if I weren’t so sad.

For those currently benefiting from the program, this decision will mean the inability to open a bank account, the fear of riding public transportation lest they be stopped by the authorities, the difficulty of renting an apartment without showing their tax returns, the impossibility of holding a legal job. Daca recipients can do all of those things now. Soon, they will be living lives of deliberate social and economic marginalization.

Read the rest here.