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Houston DACA March to “Reclaim Our Humanity”

January 22, 2018 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

January 19—Tonight in Houston, 80 people marched through the streets of downtown chanting “Save DACA, No Deal!” and “¡Sin papeles, sin miedo!” (“Without papers, without fear!”). The DACA March to Reclaim Our Humanity was organized by FIEL (Familias Inmigrantes y Estudiantes en la Lucha). DACA is Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which was canceled by the Trump/Pence regime, putting 800,000 immigrants who were brought into the U.S. without documents at a young age (known as “Dreamers”) under threat of deportation.

Most people protesting were Dreamers and other Latinos. There were high school and college students and teachers. For many of them, this was their first time protesting. As Dreamers shared their stories over a bullhorn, there was a spirit of “we are not going to let them do this, we have done nothing wrong.” One person said, “I am undocumented and unafraid. I have nothing to lose. I am here to stay.” A couple of young women said that we are all dreamers, we all have dreams, and everyone needs to come out together to protest to keep DACA, and then we all will need to come out to protest to make sure all people can keep their dreams.

As we marched by restaurants and clubs, some people came out to watch, and several people joined in. A young architect said that he is outraged by what Trump is doing to immigrants, and that he and his colleagues have been speaking out about what the government is doing to the environment. A young Black man, who had just got off work and joined in the march, said that several of his friends are immigrants and that he was glad to see people fighting back.

For many people, driving out the Trump/Pence regime was a new idea. Several people said they really agreed with the vision, but asked how that can happen. A young Latino said that people need to come out to protest and take control because all that the government is doing is attacking the people.

The organizers said they will continue to call people out into the streets if a “clean DACA” bill (that is, without Democratic deals with Trump giving the OK to the border wall and other anti-immigrant measures) is not passed.

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