Photo: Denise Civiletti
Elder Perez was 13 years old when his parents brought him to the United States. The Riverhead resident, now 26, says his memories of his native Guatemala are hazy.
“I feel American,” he says simply, shrugging his shoulders.
Perez jumped at the chance to register for DACA, which gave eligible youth a chance to live “a more normal” American life.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program enabled certain undocumented young people — people younger than 31 on June 15, 2012, who came to the U.S. when they were younger than 16, and lived in the U.S. since 2007 — to come out of the shadows. With DACA, they could work legally, obtain a driver’s license and pay in-state college tuition.
Perez has an entrepreneurial spirit. He started his own landscaping business and today employs four other men.
He fell in love, got married and is now the father of a three-year-old child.
“I’m scared.”
Perez was a guest speaker today in a program about DACA presented by the Southold Democratic Club at the Hellenic Snack Bar in East Marion. The event drew a standing-room only crowd that packed the large dining room.
“I’m scared for my child. I’m scared for my business, for my employees,” he said.
The Riverhead resident is one of about 800,000 young adults who took advantage of the DACA program established by executive order of former President Barack Obama in June 2012.
President Donald Trump’s decision to rescind that executive order and end the DACA program, effective in March 2018, upended the lives of Perez and some 14,000 other young Long Islanders. See Sept. 6 story, “Local ‘dreamers’ worry about their uncertain future after DACA program ends.”
DACA recipients whose two-year DACA registration expires before March can apply for another two-year permit, but they must do so by Oct. 5 — just one month after the announcement by Attorney General Jeff Sessions that the administration would end the program.
Since the Sept. 5 announcement, the president has indicated a willingness to support legislation to restore some form of the program legislatively and he has said the administration will not take proactive measures to deport DACA recipients.
Perez said all he can do right now is wait and pray. His wife has legal residency in the U.S. and is not subject to deportation, he said, so at least he does not have to worry about his young child having both parents arrested for deportation.
Photo: Denise Civiletti
“It’s a waiting game right now,” Sister Margaret Smyth said today at the breakfast meeting. “No one really knows what’s going to happen.” She pointed out that others have experienced unexpected trouble with authorities.
A man in the congregation she ministers to in her work for the North Fork Spanish Apostolate is sitting in an ICE detention center in New Jersey right now for reasons no one has been able to ascertain, she said. He has a work permit and has a pending application for a green card.
“He went to Bethpage for an interview for his green card and he never came home. We don’t know why,” she said.
“He’s never so much has gotten a parking ticket,” Smyth said. His frantic wife came to Smyth’s office in Riverhead to ask what to do. It took Smyth two days to locate him, but the reason for his detention is still unknown.
“People are living in fear,” she said. “It may not always look that way, but the fear is always there.”
North fork Unity Action Committee and L.I. Jobs with Justice are organizing workshops in Greenport and Riverhead for people interested in helping undocumented residents by simply accompanying them when they need to interact with government officials.
“You don’t have to do or say anything,” Smyth said. “You just stand with them, as a presence.” People who accompany them to a court appearance or an appearance at an ICE office act as witnesses. “Just by being there, you let the judge and ICE know that the person has community support and people are monitoring the fairness of the proceedings.”
The first workshop will take place Monday, from 4 to 6 p.m. at St. Agnes Church parish center in Greenport. A workshop will be held in Riverhead next month, Smyth said.
Hellenic Snack Bar owner George Giannaris urged people to speak out on immigration issues. He described the problems he’s had with the J-1 visa program, which allows him to hire foreign students to work at his restaurant. He is concerned about the administration’s intentions for the program. Giannaris said he can’t fill the jobs he needs to fill with American workers and beginning this year, the federal government has been denying J-1 visa applications in large numbers. “Now they’re saying they’re going to cut it,” Giannaris said.
“Make your voice heard,” Giannaris told the group. “If we speak loud enough in a civilized way, people listen. Ultimately, we are the people who are the foundation of our system of government. We are the roots.”
