Anxiety Builds For Tennessee DACA Recipients As Supreme Court Decision Nears

The fate of thousands of recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, best known as DACA, could be decided as soon as Monday.

Tennessee’s so-called DREAMERS are feeling anxious as they await the important decision.

Jazmin Ramirez has been browsing the internet for the last few Mondays as the the U.S. Supreme Court issues rulings.

“Every time that DACA gets mentioned, as like ‘When is the DACA decision?’, our heart drops,” Ramirez said.

She is one of the nearly 8,000 Tennesseans who are currently protected from deportation under DACA. But, since 2017, the Trump administration has tried to revoke the program, claiming President Obama acted illegally when he created it in 2012. That decision was challenged and now the U.S. Supreme Court has the final say.

Ramirez said keeping her DACA status in times of pandemic is more important than ever: She’s the only one in her family of seven still working full time.

“Having to worry about everything that’s happening in the world, and then on top of that, adding the decision of DACA has been very stressful,” Ramirez said.

The Supreme Court has until June to make a decision.