Those deported to Mexico protested outside the U.S. Embassy in Mexico over Trump’s decision to end DACA

Protests
Sept. 5, 2017, 1:29 p.m. Reporting from Mexico City

In Mexico, deportees protest end of DACA: ‘It’s an attack on our children’

Kate Linthicum

Protests against President Trump’s decision to end a program for young immigrants extended to Mexico City, where activists demonstrated outside the U.S. Embassy.

“Out with Trump! Save DACA!” the protesters chanted Tuesday as armed security officers stood guard.

The protest was hastily organized by migrant advocates in Mexico after the White House announced that young people currently shielded from deportation and allowed to work legally in the U.S. will begin losing their protection in March unless Congress acts before then.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, protects nearly 800,000 young people who were brought to the U.S. as children, often known as Dreamers. Nearly 80% of them were born in Mexico and could be deported here.

Many of those demonstrating in Mexico City were themselves deportees. Some of them have children living in the U.S. who are currently protected by DACA.

“We all have someone in our family who is a Dreamer,” said Diego Maria, who was deported last month and is a part of a group called Deportees United in the Fight.

Ana Laura Lopez, who was also deported last year, said her 15-year-old son was preparing to apply for DACA next year. She brought him to the U.S. when he was just 3 months old.

Lopez called Trump’s decision on DACA “another hate attack against out community.”

“They’ve deported us,” she said. “And now they are assaulting our children.”

“It’s an attack on our children who have done nothing but come to the U.S. with their parents, who came to work.”

“The idea of him having to say goodbye to his school and his life and his friends is terrible,” Lopez said, crying.

“It’s been hard enough for me coming back here,” she added. “Imagine what it would be like for those who have never lived here.”