BRIAN CHILSON
MARIA MENESES DREAMER, fighting.
M
aria Meneses is counting on the go to school. We are Americans, and we have idea that America will keep her dreams of wanting to better ourselves and promises. wanting to better the United States.” Brought to the United States from GuateIn her work with the UACC, she has talked mala at age 2, Meneses, 19, who formerly served to Arkansas lawmakers tasked with coming as chairwoman of the Progressive Arkansas up with a replacement. Sitting in a coffee shop Youth PAC and works as the United Arkan- near downtown, she cried as she described sas Community Coalition’s Central Arkansas her frustration. Organizer, is a beneficiary of the Obama-era “I’m a 4.0 [GPA] bio-chem pre-med student,” Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals pro- she said. “I want to be a doctor. There’s many gram, which allows undocumented people people like me who want to be nurses, police brought to the United States as minors to stay officers, teachers. They want to contribute. and legally work. Meneses said the election of I know this. I’ve spoken with them. I told Donald Trump has brought a wave of fear in [Arkansas 1st District U.S. Rep.] Rick Crawthe state’s community of approximately 5,000 ford that I wanted to be in the Navy. He said, DACA recipients, both that the program might ‘We’ll help you in your case.’ I said, ‘What about be abolished and that the information they the other [DACA recipients]? Why don’t you gave the government might be used against help them as well?’ He is supposed to reprethem and their families. sent the masses, not just one person.” “It’s very worrisome,” she said. “You don’t Meneses resigned as chair of Progressive know what ICE is going to do with all the Arkansas Youth PAC to serve on the campaign information, what the Department of Home- of Democrat Gwendolynn Combs, who is runland Security is going to do. They know where ning against Rep. French Hill in the 2nd Diswe live, where we work, they know where we trict. She’s also going to college full time and
working a waitressing job while continuing her outreach efforts with the UACC. If DACA recipients are forced to leave the country, Meneses said, we will all be poorer. “I know one DACA recipient who is the mother of a U.S. citizen — a toddler,” she said. “Let’s say she was to be taken away? What happens to that child if she’s not prepared? He goes into the foster system. Things like that. Not only does the removal of DACA affect the recipients and their families, but it also indirectly affects American citizens as well. We pay taxes, none of which we can receive back in return, or any of the benefits they provide.” As for herself, Meneses is at a dark crossroads, having to imagine two futures simultaneously: one in which she serves as a doctor in Arkansas, and another in which she could be deported to a country she can’t remember. Either way, she said, she will face the future with the adaptability immigrants show every day. “Wherever I end up going, whether it’s here in the United States or back to Guatemala, I know that as an immigrant I can adjust quickly and get it together,” she said. “If I can do it here in the United States, I can do it anywhere in the world, as long as I’m willing and dedicated to do it for myself and for those I care about.” — David Koon arktimes.com NOVEMBER 09, 2017
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