Has DACA Changed Your Life? - Page 4

I am kind in the same boat as donquijote, I did NOT expect DACA or DREAM ACT to secure my future. My Plan was to finish school and go home. However, that being said, just because I have my DL and was charged resident tuition does it not mean I don't appreciate what DACA has or will give me since I don't yet have it and don't know if I will have it. It will change my life entirely, I will be able to actually find a good paying job and really move on with my life. I will be able to go to pro immigration meetings with out fear of deportation, go to stores here with a history of ICE being called in. That alone is well worth it.

But best of all, people enter school will get a chance to find a better paying job than they have so they can actually work and finish school at the same thing and not work then finish school.

I am extremely grateful for DACA. Lots of places require you to have a SSN and the goverment doesn't give them out that easy.

That being said if you really don't think DACA has changed your life, you really should have not even applied for it because you knew from the start what DACA meant. You knew it would not grant you some kind of legal presence here or ability to travel. Lots of things to do with 465 bucks.

Hopefully people don't stop organizing just because they have DACA now.

It def. will change my life my college degree has been collecting dust for the past year and a half. I will forever be grateful just the fact of having a social, being able to drive and apply for jobs I qualify for makes me extremely happy. I have been very sad since I finished school, but things are looking good.
As for college you can do it, its just not going to b easy I paid my way and it sure wasn't easy. It took me 6 long years and was paid for by working a low paying cashier job, you just have to set goals for yourself and do it. It would get so hard sometimes that I would just cry a lot but hey thats all behind me. YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU SET YOUR MIND TO. Just budget and eat noodles if you have to and do buy new shoes or clothes for a while.

Who said anything about handouts? Before you go a rampage of vitriol and hatred, bashing people left and right, unleashing your frustration on unjustified targets, please take the time to read the comment you are retaliating against.

I am not asking for handouts. I am asking for a government backed loan. Are you saying that loan is a handout? If so, you are too dumb to even have a discussion with.

I have worked just as hard as anyone else but after paying the bills, I have no money left to pay for college. Where I live I have no access to in-state tuition, which means I literally cannot afford to study. And without a college degree, it's hard to get a job that pays more than what I'm already making.

This is not the position of a parasite as you seem to imply, it is rather the reality a poor working man faces. I thought in this forum out of all I'd find some camaraderie and understanding, but instead I've found you-bitterness incarnate.

Donquijote,

I think you are missing a point from 'iamAman'. He is a 37 year old undocumented fellow, as we all were just a meager 3 months ago, who does not have an EAD like yourself. What he sees is someone who now has the opportunity to get just about any legal job, sans any TS clearance type jobs, has a driving license and can do so MUCH more than other unfortunate folks who are past the 30 age mark. I understand your point that you say it's very hard to pay out of state tuition, I myself was lucky to be able to get in state rates and worked to pay it off and it took me 5 years to get my degree. You are and always will be several notches better than him due to the doors that will open up for you now. We should not start bashing our own, as we DACA recipients are considered to be very lucky and fortunate. You should empathize for him, as he is very frustrated at this point. I'm not picking sides here, but just wanted to show where he came from.

I got a mechanical engineering degree from a university of texas school.

What sucks is that I have no EAD but an in-person job interview next week. They asked me how much I wanted and I said $55k and they're still having me come in so I guess they're ok with that number. I guess I'll take my EAD application receipt and if they want me, I'll ask them to wait for a few weeks.

Your attitude tells me that anything I suggest you will come up with an excuse. If I said save up some money and move to a state that offers in state tuition, you'd no. If I said move now, you'd say no. If you can't afford to pay out of state tuition now, what makes you think you can repay your out of state loans later? You do have options but none will give you the instant gratification that you feel you deserve.

Will it be harder than the rich American kid whose family set up a trust fund for him? Well yeah, but there are many Americans who had to flip burgers and go to school too. The Dream is free but you still have to pay the toll and it doesn't sound like you're willing to do that.

I'm not sure how old you are, but I'm going to guess you're probably in your early 20's and have been out of high school for just a few years and think you have suffered and now that you've made it, you deserve all the best that is out there. I assure you, you have not even begun to know what real hopelessness feels like when 5 years, 10 years, 15 years and 20 years go by after graduating HS and you watch yourself getting old without anybody giving a damn about you. This is why I don't think you understand how enormous the gift that was handed to you is because that would have been your future and you were spared of it.

You were spared 20 or 30 years of throwing your life away the way many of your "brothers" already have and here you are boohooing that you can't get high paying corporate job and you can't pay for school. That's pretty much spitting in the faces of those who came before you so excuse us for not feeling the camaraderie.

I feel camaraderie with people like Jose Vargas and even though he's 5 or 6 years younger than me, I know he gets it. Dude was arrested after getting pulled over for wearing earphones while driving. Ask him whether he'd like to have what you have. I'm also happy for the younger "kids" who got their EADs, but only if they do something with it.

A few years ago, I was talking to a Holocaust survivor and it was inspiring to talk to him about how because he was the only survivor in his family, there was a lot of pressure on him to succeed for those left behind. Now fortunately, Dreamers weren't sent to gas chambers (though I'm sure many cases of abuse occurred) but you owe it to them to stop making excuses and do something with the gift that you have.

You hit the nail on the head. For the record, I was fortunate enough to get my in state Driver's License in my early 20's. Without that, I can't even imagine my life. More than likely I'd still be working at the same sweatshop I worked at making 4 bucks an hour and would have never gone to school. The DL situation became very complicated since I was not able to renew it last time. All I ask is be aware that DACA was the greatest gift you could have gotten after the gift of life. There is nothing worse than hopelessness.

Hopefully with the grace of God, you and several people close to me (30+) will be soon saved by a comprehensive immigration bill. With people like Speaker Boehner, Sean Hannity and President Bush pushing for amnesty, i pray your frustrations of 20+ years will be wiped away soon my friend. Best of luck, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Yes, it does help me and my brothers. We can now freely apply for work , go to the university we want, and do not have to worry how we can get there. More importantly it gave us some kind of freedom and identity, though we only have a legal presence at this moment. The feeling of emptiness and hopelessness are going away. Our dreams seem no longer forever just dreams. Thanks for DACA. I'm just praying that next year we would be all in a better position & the rest of the people who did not qualify for DACA who badly needed a break to improve their lives & be out of the long time misery.