Santa Fe Dreamers Project celebrates 10 years amid worrisome climate for immigrants

By André Salkin, Santa Fe New Mexican

Allegra Love, immigration attorney and founder of Santa Fe Dreamers Project, counsels an undocumented immigrant in 2017. As the nonprofit nears its 10-year anniversary, it’s bracing for changes proposed by Donald Trump in his return to the White House.

Immigration advocates are worried President-elect Donald Trump will follow through on promises to end protection for more than 500,000 people nationwide currently shielded from deportation under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

The policy, instituted during the Obama administration, allows people who were brought to this country illegally as children to remain. Those who are protected under DACA are part of a larger group called Dreamers — the common term for people who came here illegally as children, derived from the acronym for a never-passed law to protect them.

“The norms of the law are being stretched to a place that I don’t think we’ve seen before,” said Jessica Aguirre, staff attorney for the Santa Fe Dreamers Project, a nearly 10-year-old nonprofit that provides legal representation and other services for immigrants.

Takeaways

Immigration lawyer Jessica Aguirre, who serves as staff attorney for the Santa Fe Dreamers Project, fears what a Trump presidency could mean for the legal protections of the country’s immigrants.

She has some hope, however, for political infighting and local pushback to mitigate some of Trump’s policies.

The nonprofit’s executive director, Miles Tokuno, echoed Aguirre’s viewpoint, stressing the crucial role in educating local communities in fighting back against policies like mass deportations.