DREAMers protest outside Speaker Ryan's Racine office

NOW: DREAMers protest outside Speaker Ryan’s Racine office
NEXT:

President Donald Trump is expected to make an announcement on Tuesday regarding the future of the immigration policy known as Deffered Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA -- and it has a lot of young immigrants here in Wisconsin feeling nervous.

DACA protects an estimated 800,000 immigrants who were brought to America as children from being deported. 

Pablo Enriquez is one of those immigrants. He says his parents brought him over from Mexico when he was a little boy -- and he never dreamed he'd have to go back. 

"I have been here my whole life," he said. "I'm heartbroken."

Enriquez was one of twenty or so people protesting outside Paul Ryan's office on Monday. He was joined by several others, who were on a hunger strike. 

"I feel very weak, very tired," said Fernanda Jimenez. "My mind is all over the place. I'm dizzy."

Jimenez was also brought to America by her parents when she was young. Now she's a high school student in Racine. She says she's afraid of what could happen if DACA is cancelled.

"I want a pathway to citzenship," she said. "Something concrete."

That's why Jimenez and others were protesting outside Paul Ryan's office.

"As a man in power, he needs to step up for us," said Ilse Merlin. 

Last week, Ryan said he disagreed with ending DACA. 

"I believe this is something Congress has to fix," he says. 

But for people like Jimenez, that's not enough. 

"We're gonna keep fighting," she said. "No one is gonna take us out of this country."

Share this article: