The DACA crisis and Asian Americans: One New Yorker’s story

Antonio and his mother illegally crossed the border from Venezuela into Texas 13 years ago.

He’s been allowed to stay in the U.S. thanks to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, established by the Obama administration in 2012, which protects Antonio and others like him from deportation.

That program is about to expire, and President Donald Trump has so far sent mixed signals about the next step. “This is not about the economy or crime; rather, he only seeks to further his xenophobic, anti-immigrant agenda, which continues to tear families apart,” Representative Judy Chu (D-Calif.) told the Washington Post last September. “Dreamers are deeply woven into the fabric of our nation, including the many undocumented Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who arrived in the United States as children through no fault of their own.”

Of the 800,000 DACA recipients, 200,000 come from countries in Asia, Europe, and the Caribbean, while the majority are from Mexico and other Latin American countries.

Antonio’s status expires April 2019.