Years ahead hanging in the balance.

I’m 25 years old and getting ready to turn 26 in February. For many people, it’s a day filled with the ideas of who will I spend it with, what will I do or what will I make of the day?

My main question kind of always remains the same: Will I be ok when I step out of the house?

I was born in Mexico City, but have resided in NC for around 21 years of my life. I know the American experience, I have contributed to its society, I have lived it as intimately as any other american. Like many immigrants, I have always been made sharply aware of the limitations of my status. The ever looming threat that I can be taken away from this place and all I have built here.

About 8 years ago when the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) was introduced by Obama in the U.S as a way to grant two year parole and work authorization to a specific category of immigrants in which I fell into, I was granted DACA with the promise that I would renew every two years. When Trump rose to office, DACA and other policies regarding immigrants were brought under a heightened critique. Another attempt to cast the blame of a cannibalistic american system onto a demographic of people with barely enough power to keep their feet planted into the soil.

In a sense, our lives, our families, our very futures were at stake. The fear of uncertainty set in, into the balance we swing.

Biden came into office in 2021 propelled by the desperation of many marginalized people hoping to secure some protections from the violent reaches of upstart fascist movements emboldened by the previous term. The dreamers across this nation were no different.

As January comes to an end and the beginning of Trump’s second term commences, everyone has been watching and preparing immensely. Sharing a fate similar to Roe, DACA saw itself stripped of all safeguards, sending millions alongside myself into the margins. I can only hope and continue to live my life wondering what awaits me. Especially with the ongoing ICE raids across the country targeting anyone they may deem as an immigrant. No matter what route I may take to do what I can for myself and those who are immigrants, our lives are not in our hands. Four more years of uncertainty await us once again. Yet, there is hope within our communities as we only have each other, and as there are those who fight for me, I fight alongside them for everyone else.