WACO, TX — The United States Supreme Court blocked the Trump Administration from ending the "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals" or the "DACA" program for undocumented immigrants.
But the ruling came down on technical grounds.
The so-called “Dreamers” in Central Texas let out a brief sigh of relief with the Supreme Court ruling, knowing it only provides them a temporary bit of comfort.
Grecia Chavira came to Waco on a tourist visa with her family in 2000 at the age of 8.
"I started school in 4th grade and it was an all English classroom. I had a friend who would translate for me and that was it. that's all the help I got," she recalled.
She made up for her challenges with hard work, put herself through Baylor Business school and now works two jobs as a teacher for Waco ISD and as an office receptionist.
She finally found a path to U.S. citizenship and says the Supreme Court's decision on DACA can help lots of hard workers just like her.
The court decided the Trump Administration needed more solid reasons to end the program.
A win for those in DACA, but a temporary one at best.
"A lot of our friends who are "DACAmented" they were living in fear of any moment their DACA status being taken away so in the short term it's a win. We've got to keep fighting the bigger fight," said Hope Mustakim of the Waco Immigrants Alliance.
While some point to the fact that Chief Justice Roberts joined with liberals on the court as a hopeful sign, Attorney Susan Nelson says there's a good reason for that.
"His decision is really a pretty conservative decision in saying a department when they're ending a program, to give warning about it, to wind it down in a way that takes in to account what's going to happen to the people that rely on the program," she said.
Why's that such a big deal?
Because the libertarian Cato Institute estimates replacing those in DACA already in the American workforce would cost more than $6 billion if companies could even find replacements in areas like healthcare, the law and education.
It's why successful "graduates" of DACA like Grecia Chavira say Americans should think twice about ending help for this group of largely high achievers.
"Everyone's able to continue working to continue contributing to society, pay their taxes, taking higher education, just to continue living the way they've been doing for 8 years now," she said.
Those in the DACA program know the Trump administration will probably come up with better reasoning to end the program.
By then, they hope to win over more voters who see value in the work they do and their contributions to life in America and in Central Texas.
