ARLINGTON— Protests continued across Texas for the second week in a row. This week, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Arlington were the centers of mass demonstrations against ice raids. Hundreds gathered in front of Arlington City Hall to rally against Donald Trump’s immigration policies. The Tarrant County Democratic Party organized Sunday’s protest; other organizations, including LULAC COUNCIL 4568, joined the rally.
Those attending the rally were excited to get their message out and demonstrate to President Trump and Governor Abbot that they will not be steamrolled out of existence. Many in attendance were DACA students who wanted to express their concern for their future in the United States now that Donald Trump is rallying lawmakers to get rid of DACA altogether and deport immigrants who were here on an emergency visa.
I spoke with an anonymous undocumented student who started to become emotional when talking about her concerns for herself and her family. This unnamed student is like many Mexican immigrant students on the DACA program, hoping to get an education to help them succeed in their chosen career path. In this student’s response to my questions about the President’s opinion on DACA and immigrants for Mexico, they responded in a pleading tone,” Not all immigrants are criminals, not all immigrants are bad people. Unfortunately, I do have DACA. Still, we live with the fear that one day we won’t be able to be here anymore, MY RECORD IS CLEAN!”. The fear of losing their status was becoming overwhelming at that moment. However, they still had it in them to offer President Trump the opportunity for redemption, saying,” I hope with time, he can reflect on his beliefs about us and accepts us because that is all we want; we want to be here work, pay taxes and contributing to society and economy. “. This is a fitting synopsis of what an immigrant family in America is here for and what they want out of life.
There will likely be more demonstrations in the following weeks. Still, LULAC Council 4568 and Hola Texas are organizing workshops to provide undocumented immigrants with detailed information on protecting themselves and their rights.