When Ana Rojas was in her senior year of high school she did what most students would normally do, started filling out college applications. Rojas found herself rejected from a university, however, it was not because of her performance in school, it was because of her legal immigration status. Rojas is one of 800,000 who is receiving help from newly repealed legislation, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

“The scholarships were a lot tougher, there weren’t many to chose from because of my legal status, it was either nationwide scholarships or ones that I was completely unqualified for,” said Rojas.

On October 13, Elgin Community College’s Latinx Heritage Month hosted an event called “DREAMers: Advocacy in Action.” This event was held in the Spartan Auditorium on ECC’s campus. At this event, Rojas, alongside several other student leaders, shared what others can do to help those who may be forced to leave the United States.

Student leaders shared their stories, facts about the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals legislation, and mental health in a PowerPoint presentation.

At this event, a panel of four guest speakers spoke about the recently repealed legislation. This panel consisted of Senator Cristina Castro, Illinois State Representative Anna Moeller, Immigration lawyer Shirley Sadadai, and Elgin Community College Professor Clark Hallpike.

The panel spoke about their views on the potential DACA repeal. Also adding in some advice to the dreamers and advocates as well.

“There are some things that we can do to protect DACA recipients, there is a couple of bills we are approaching, there is a student access bill which will provide four-year public universities with the legal authority to provide financial aid to undocumented students,” said Castro.

For Mueller, she knew they were going to be targeted that’s why they have taken action.

“We knew back when with the last results of the election there was a foreboding fear that the new administration would target immigrants and other communities, a lot of the legislation we submitted this past year was in the sense to resist the Trump administration and to protect communities here in Illinois from any of the harmful effects that the administration may have in our country,” said Moeller.

Sadadai gave some legal advice from the perspective of an immigration lawyer. He later then talked about the importance of keeping your drivers license valid regardless of your legal status and or social security. He also provided students with a list of places where people can go if they need resources.

While Sadadai is not a fan of Donald Trump, she also put some blame on the Obama administration.

“As much as I hate the Trump administration, don’t forget that the Obama administration deported two million people,” said Sadadai.

Sadadai also talked about the importance of getting an immigration judge.

“After ICE arrests someone, they have to process the case, because believe it or not they have a right to an immigration judge, you have to demand a hearing before an immigration judge, we have 600,000 pending cases in immigration report, I have hearings scheduled in 2021 some of those people from the Obama administration,” said Sadadai.

Hallpike shared a letter from one of his former students who until recently did not know he was undocumented.

“I saw my parents work hours getting minimum wage so we could have bread on the table, so when I was able to work I started working at McDonald’s with my brother so we could pay the bills at home, until the greatest President this country has ever had Barack Obama introduced the DACA program, and got a Bachelors in Nursing, then we got a job at St. Josephs Hospital,” said Hallpike as he read his students letter at the beginning of his DACA experience.

Hallpike also wants to help those get an education despite being undocumented.

“I got a call the tennis coach at Dundee Crown High School that one of her students wanted to come to ECC and that student was undocumented had no money, because they couldn’t fill out a FASFA, I told Dr. Sam and he said to have her come to school, so many students here don’t have the funds because they are undocumented, so I wrote a check to the foundation scholarship for students and now has over thirty-five thousand dollars, I am going to make sure undocumented students can apply for that,”said Hallpike.

While Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi could not make it to the event he did have a message of support for everyone which was read by one of his employees.

“I am proud to sponsor the American Hope Act and the DREAM Act, to ensure that our countries dreamers are able to access a pathway to citizenship while continuing to work for entry into our country,” Krisnamoorthi said in his written statement.

Rojas continues to pursue her education, and all of the negativity has only made her work harder.

“I had a coworker tell me straight to my face that I would never amount to anything, because of my status, that fueled my fire, and now I am more determined to get my education done, become a professional, and become who I want to be,” said Rojas.