THIS WEEK ON LATINOPIA: JUAN GONZALEZ ON DACA RESCINDED AND BUILDING TRUMP’S WALL, DEPORTATIONS OF 1930S AND DAGOBERTO GILB ON HUIZACHE
DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) is at the forefront of 2018. As we enter into a new year, the legacy of last year’s events remains troubling. A year ago many of us grappled with the unbelievable–that Donald Trump had actually been elected President of the United States of America. Following a litany of scandals that involved Trump boasting of sexual abuse, making fun of the disabled, denigrating the families of deceased war veterans, and failing to call out neo-Nazis, any one of which would under other circumstances might have destroyed his Presidential aspirations, the American public (or at least the electoral college) voted to install him as President.
A year of policy flip flops, daily blunders and the inability to achieve most of his avowed goals as President, leaves us wondering what the new year will bring.
High on the list of uncertainty for Latinos is the status of the 800,000 young people who came to the United States as children and who were given provisional legal status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The DACA provisions, created by President Obama, have now been rescinded by President Trump. A grace period for the DACA young people will end in March of 2018 and until then, their status is uncertain, becoming a political football between the Democratic party (favoring a continuance of the legal status) and the Trump Administration (set on deporting the 800,000 DACA youth back to Mexico).
Trump has already been on record that any DACA leniency must be tied to his plan for a border wall. While this debate will ensue for the next few months, Latinopia posts two opinion pieces by Juan Gonzalez, author of Harvest of Empire and Reclaiming Gotham. 2018 Building the Wall examines the fallacy of the entire notion of building a wall to separate Mexico and the United States. 2017 DACA Rescinded examines the options for the DACA young people.
And be aware that the threatened deportations of dreamers is not new. Check out Dr. Francisco Baldarrama’s video The Deportations of 1930s to get a historical perspective on the current dilemma faced by the DACA dreamers.
Also this week, the deadline for submissions to the preeminent Latino literary Magazine Huizache nears (May, 2018). Check out editor Dagoberto Gilb explaining what’s behidn this important magazine and how to submit.
Enjoy your week on Latinopia!
Tia Tenopia