On Sept. 5, 2017, attorney general Jeff Sessions announced the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that protected about 800,000 undocumented youth from deportation. Our organization recognizes the political, social and historical context of this pivotal point in history. Immigration has been an issue that has continued to stay a top story in the media.

The Republican and Democratic parties have both used immigration as a point of discussion, debate, and unfortunately, anti-immigrant rhetoric. A pending lawsuit has temporarily stalled the ending of DACA. Undocumented students, with or without DACA, continue to live in extremely stressful and anxious times due to the uncertainty of our futures.

Despite congressional inaction, we continue to advocate for the undocumented community. In collaboration with immigration attorney Jeremy Lime, we have organized two DACA workshops and a Know Your Rights presentation. We have raised over $6,000 to help DACA recipients pay renewal fees.

We continue to work with NIU administrators to advocate for undocumented Huskies. We continue to organize, advocate, and mobilize to create a permanent solution for thousands of undocumented youth and our families.

To echo Dr. Martin Luther King, over the past eighteen years we have been gravely disappointed by moderates from both the Republican and Democratic party. We have been waiting since the first iteration of the DREAM Act in 2001. We hear the word wait. This wait “has almost always meant ‘Never.’ We must come to see… that justice too long delayed is justice denied,” said King.