In Washington, D.C., 27 activists were arrested Tuesday at a sit-in protest outside the White House, where they called on the Trump administration not to end DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The policy, which was first implemented five years ago, grants legal protection for some young immigrants to live and work in the United States. Among those arrested were Maryland gubernatorial candidate and former NAACP chair Ben Jealous and Illinois Democratic Congressmember Luis Gutiérrez. Hundreds more rallied for DACA in cities around the U.S. This is Nawshin Islam with Desis Rising Up and Moving, who came out publicly as undocumented for the first time at a protest Tuesday outside Trump Tower in New York.
Nawshin Islam: “It’s because of DACA I’ve gotten the chance to be human and work towards the kind of potential that I know I have, the kind of potential everyone here today has. Unfortunately, many of you may have heard that Texas Attorney General Paxton is demanding the cancellation of DACA by September 5th, or else he will file a lawsuit against DACA. If the lawsuit is filed, then it is up to Trump to defend DACA. But Trump won’t defend us unless we unite and force him to do so.”