SALT LAKE CITY — Young immigrants in Utah are worried about the fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which has protected them from deportation and enabled them to work legally in the United States.
The White House is expected to announce on Tuesday the future of the program created by executive order by President Barack Obama in June 2012.
While campaigning for president, President Donald Trump vowed to end the program the first day of his presidency, denigrating it as illegal "amnesty." More recently, his rhetoric has softened, particularly with respect to immigrant children brought to the United States by parents unauthorized to be in the country.
Yisarai Valbuena, a junior at the University of Utah majoring in mechanical engineering, says the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program has given her legal authorization to work, allowing her to pay her way through college and help support her parents.
"I owe my success up until now to the fact that I've had DACA. I'm 21 years old and at Discover Card I was a manager. That was a really great accomplishment for someone so young." she said.
But the program's status is in flux and the future of the program has real-life implications for Valbuena and other '"Dreamers" she knows.
"I'm not afraid of mass deportation. I'm afraid of not being able to pursue my degree and not being able to work so hard for everything I've worked so hard to have (such as) taking away my ability to work as an engineer when I do have my degree," Valbuena said.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, in a statement issued Friday, urged Trump not to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program because it "would further complicate a system in serious need of a permanent, legislative solution.
"Like the president, I've long advocated for tougher enforcement of our existing immigration laws. But we also need a workable, permanent solution for individuals who entered our country unlawfully as children through no fault of their own and who have built their lives here. And that solution must come from Congress."
On Monday, four Democratic state lawmakers — all Hispanic — sent a letter to Utah's congressional delegation, urging the five Republicans to sign on to legislation that would permanently protect Dreamers and keep them from returning to the shadows.
"We remind you that these Americans will lose their legal right to work and go to school the moment DACA ends, and they will be at immediate risk for deportation," according to the letter signed by Senate Assistant Minority Whip Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, Rep. Rebecca Chavez-Houck, D-Salt Lake City, House Assistant Minority Whip Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, and Rep. Mark Wheatley, D-Murray.
Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes also weighed in on the issue Monday, saying Trump has every right to rescind the law but that he should allow time for Congress to provide a path for Dreamers to stay in the country.
"In my view, it would be inhumane if Congress fails to find a solution for those who may have come unlawfully as children but who are otherwise law abiding, productive and committed to defending America," he said in a statement.
Reyes, a Republican, said it is "unthinkable" to consider deporting young people who came into the country as children without any choice of their own.
"These children grew up believing they are American and so many of them have lived lives of which America can be proud," he said.
As Valbuena begins her third year in college and delves deeper into her engineering studies, she said she's trying to concentrate on school and adjust to life as a newlywed. She got married this summer. Her husband also was approved for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which means Trump's decision has implications for their future as a couple.
As immigrants, Valbuena said she is accustomed to dealing with uncertainty and making the most of opportunities that are presented to her.
"It's all about just not giving up. If anything, being an immigrant here, you have to learn to just not take no" for an answer, she said.
"I think that mentality growing up made it that I could pursue a difficult degree. We came here with a purpose so whatever it takes."
But eliminating the program would "put us in a position we can't move forward and that's just unthinkable for me right now. I honestly don't know what I would do," Valbuena said.
Hatch said he will work with his congressional colleagues to pass meaningful immigration reform that will secure the nation's borders, provide a "workable path forward for the Dreamer population, and ensure that employers have access to the high-skilled workers they need to succeed in our technology-driven economy."
House Speaker Paul Ryan, in an interview with a Wisconsin radio station, urged Trump to give Congress time to act.
"These are kids who know no other country, who are brought here by their parents and don't know another home. And so I really do believe that there needs to be a legislative solution," Ryan said.
Valbuena said she hopes Trump and others can take a broad view of why the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is needed, but also why people like her parents took the risk of coming to the United States.
Her parents and in-laws viewed it as their "only choice due to crime and violence issues in our home countries. Our parents preferred a life for us where we would be a minority with less options but where we would at least have an opportunity to succeed."
As a collegiate member of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Valbuena has been able to travel to conferences to learn to network and prepare for her career.
"It was because of DACA that I wasn't afraid to travel. I've had opportunities to just learn and not be afraid to be out there. Were Trump to repeal DACA, that would be really shameful in my opinion," she said.
Contributing: Dennis Romboy, Associated Press