DENVER Since 1926
THE STATE OF THE BIBLE IN 2017: A look at the current numbers on the good book P8
FREE
SEPTEMBER 14, 2017
D D
II
S S
P P
A A
T T
C C
H H
DENVER, COLORADO
A publication of
Six-month countdown to DACA deadline How Coloradans are planning for DACA’s end BY ANDREW KENNEY AKENNEY@DENVERITE.COM
The Trump administration on Sept. 5 set a stark deadline for a group of young immigrants who have long lived in uncertainty: six months. That is how long President Donald Trump will give Congress to overrule him before he terminates Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Known as DACA, the program was created by President Barack Obama, and it has given 17,000 undocumented immigrants in Colorado the right to work and limited protection from deportation. The announcement of the program’s impending end sent a wave of young protesters into the streets of Denver, with nearly 2,500 of them converging in front of the grand old hall of the Tivoli Student Union at Metropolitan State University, according to organizers’ estimates. In interviews there and elsewhere, we asked what DACA recipients and those around them would do in the six months ahead. Kendy Macias Kendy Macias, 15, had been in the process of applying for DACA, which gives recipients a temporary work permit and some protection from deportation. “Keep fighting,” she replied when asked her plans
Students raise their hands to show they know someone who has been deported. Thousands walked out of class Sept. 5 to attend a rally on the Auraria campus in response to the repeal of DACA. KEVIN J. BEATY/DENVERITE for the six months ahead. “I’m going to show them that I deserve to be here.” Julie Gonzales Julie Gonzales is legal and policy director for Meyer Law Office. For the next 30 days, they’ll be holding consultations with as many DACA recipients as possible, she said. Anyone whose DACA status expires on or before March 5 will be eligible to renew their status, which could grant up to two years of new protection. Those who cannot renew in that time period will be seeking other means of qualifying for protections — or preparing for
life without documentation, she said. While some DACA recipients might have a back-up option — for example, if they are married to a citizen or can make a case for asylum — others have exhausted all their legal means. All have been in the United States since age 15, and many from a much younger age. The law firm also will be training others. “Our phone has been ringing off the hook, with schools, with community organizations, trying to start scheduling know-your-rights consultations,” she said.
Kendy Macias, 15, at a DACA rally in Denver on Sept. 5.
SEE DACA, P4
ANDREW KENNEY/DENVERITE
THE BOTTOM LINE PERIODICAL
‘I can shop at home, and miss out on traffic, parking and rabble. Mall rabble… gets to a curmudgeon in amounts that exceed the recommended maximum daily intake of human interaction by, oh, 100 percent.’ Craig Marshall Smith, columnist | Page 6 INSIDE
CALENDAR: PAGE 5 |
VOICES: PAGE 6 | LIFE: PAGE 8 VOLUME 90 | ISSUE 46