Thirteen years ago, as I embarked on my master’s degree at Florida State University, I received a call from a high school friend. The urgency in his voice was palpable.

“They are going to deport him,” he said, speaking of a close friend of his, a longtime resident, who overnight faced a cruel separation from his loved ones and the only community he knew as home.

“Do you think you can help him?”

This was not a request to be taken lightly: lives were at stake.

Over the next few hours, I learned that a young man from South Florida named Jorge was en route to Miami International Airport to meet U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who would see that he board a plane back to Venezuela—the same country that continues to experience political, economic, and social instability to this day.

I had never met or known of Jorge until that moment. However, having fled Venezuela myself just as the dictator Hugo Chávez came to power in 2000, I knew Jorge’s future and safety would be in jeopardy. The next day, I began working with local advocates and Jorge’s member of Congress to delay his deportation long enough for Jorge to make his case to federal authorities that he was one of the hundreds of thousands of young people who could apply for and benefit from then-President Barack Obama's newly announced Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy. If admitted, DACA protections would provide Jorge with a reprieve from deportation and allow him to work and attempt to build a life in two-year intervals.

Fortunately, Jorge was accepted for the program, and his life changed dramatically when he became a DACA recipient. With DACA, Jorge was able to pursue an education in software development, marry his longtime girlfriend, and build a life in rural Ohio, where he and his wife recently welcomed a baby girl. This is the power of DACA, a policy that transforms lives and creates opportunities.

DACA has been life-changing for so many, including me, but it was never meant to be a replacement for Congressional action. 

I share Jorge’s story because I was once in his shoes—a young immigrant who fled from Venezuela, lost his immigration status, and lived in constant fear of deportation until DACA came into existence. I understand the fear, uncertainty, and hope of being a DACA recipient. It's a story that's deeply personal to me.

Just like Jorge, I was able to adjust my immigration status after years of renewing my DACA protections and waiting and hoping that Congress would ultimately pass legislation that could build a path to citizenship for DACA recipients and Dreamers. Yet, 13 years after DACA’s creation, the same urgency that led to its creation has yet to break through the political gridlock that continues to deny permanent protections for Dreamers. The threat to DACA recipients and Dreamers will steadily worsen each day if members of Congress continue kicking the can down the road, exacerbating the threat of deportation and economic fallout while imperiling families and local economies. 

Nearly one million individuals have benefited from DACA since the program was created, and today, more than half a million DACA recipients are wrapping up their degrees, opening up new businesses and creating jobs in their communities, teaching our kids in their schools, and treating patients in hospitals nationwide. These hardworking young people do so despite continuing to live in constant fear that their deportation protections, along with their work permits, might come to an end unless the Trump Administration reverses course on its cruel and harmful mission to strip legal status and deport as many people as possible, or Congress musters up the courage to finally pass legislation.

Protecting DACA recipients, as well as Dreamers, has long been considered a bipartisan priority. Voters overwhelmingly supported legislation that allows DACA recipients and Dreamers to adjust their immigration status so that they can continue to use their skills to build their lives here and strengthen the communities in which they are longtime members, all while contributing to the U.S. economy and paying billions in taxes every year.

And now, while the Trump administration uses immigration enforcement as a pretext to deploy the military into communities calling for protections and safety for our neighbors, we’re seeing the ugliest version of the failed U.S. immigration system being weaponized for political gain—and an all-out attack on immigrants and immigration.

We all deserve to live in peace and safety.

This should drive home why, now more than ever, we need safe, orderly, and humane policies and laws that strengthen our communities and keep families together.

Jorge and I are no longer DACA recipients, but like hundreds of thousands of young people with similar stories, our commitment to our country has only deepened as we grow our lives here. DACA recipients and Dreamers deserve a real chance to continue building their lives here, too.

Every single person in this country, whether in a red state or a blue state, immigrant or not, has benefited from Dreamers being a part of our country. It is time that we protect them from deportation and build a path to citizenship through congressional legislation. 

Juan Escalante is the Digital Campaigns Director at FWD.us and a leading voice in immigrant rights. Once a DACA recipient, Escalante has since adjusted his immigration status and is a fixture at state, local, and national advocacy campaigns. 

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Democrats React to Padilla Video: From the Associated Press about the viral Sen. Alex Padilla video, “Beaten down politically for months as President Donald Trump has returned to power and ruled Washington with a united Republican Congress, the Democrats’ anger exploded as they skipped their traditional Thursday flights home and stayed on the floor to speak out against the incident, calling it the latest and most inflammatory example of what they say is Trump’s gradual assault on democracy.”

Remembering the Pulse Massacre: Today, June 12, is the 9th anniversary of the Pulse massacre. As CNN reports, Orlando “city leaders and local activists say they have renewed hope that construction of a permanent memorial site will begin next June.”

Meanwhile, the Orlando Sentinel reports that “Gov. Ron DeSantis’ annual statement on the Pulse shooting anniversary released Thursday makes no mention of the LGBTQ and Hispanic communities—the two groups most devastated by the massacre that left 49 dead.”

The Latino Newsletter welcomes opinion pieces in English and/or Spanish from community voices. Submission guidelines are here. The views expressed by outside opinion contributors do not necessarily reflect the editorial views of this outlet or its employees.