Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals<\/a> or DACA program.<\/p>\nFormer President Obama initiated DACA to protect undocumented immigrants who arrived when they were children and matched certain criteria. They were called \u201cDreamers\u201d because the criteria matched the previously failed DREAM Act. But President Trump has said he would end DACA, leaving many uncertain of their futures.<\/p>\n
Gustavo, was one of these Dreamers, a label he despises because he said he is not living the American dream. He said it\u2019s a joke.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have my feet firmly on the ground,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
When Trump speaks of undocumented immigrants, the border and Mexico, he\u2019s speaking of people like Gustavo, who lives in El Paso, a city with a more harmonious relationship with Juarez, Mexico than the rest of the United States. Gustavo laughed at Trump and bets the political climate will change within a year.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you expect to stop immigration when you have half the population on the other side of the fence and you have the money and the good stuff on this side,” he said. “It\u2019s illogical.\u201d<\/p>\n
He remembered living in Juarez and seeing the star on the mountain in El Paso. He saw all the lights of the United States but the star he remembers clearly.<\/p>\n
His mom worked two or three jobs in Juarez just to make a living. Gustavo said one day she looked through the window, into El Paso, and realized she wanted a better life for her 12-year-old son.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike 60 percent of the illegals in this country, I crossed the border with a legal status,\u201d he said. \u201c[They] allowed me to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gustavo came into the country like most undocumented immigrants, legally on a plane. His family moved to Denver, Colorado. His mom worked in a fast food restaurant and worked in roofing when they moved. He remembered his first job in Denver, shoveling snow with his family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to do it. It was cold, but fun,\u201d he said. \u201cYou could make angels on the snow.\u201d<\/p>\n
When he first arrived in Denver, he was eager to learn about this new country he would call home. But then he felt the culture shock. He didn\u2019t want to learn English. He hated it. He wanted to keep his Mexican culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t want to eradicate my native language,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Now he said he wakes up every day, has a cup of coffee and speaks to his dad in English. When his mom wakes up, he speaks to her in Spanish.<\/p>\n
After his first year of high school, his family moved to El Paso. He started working in roofing during the summer to make quick cash. He didn\u2019t complain about it because he remembered his mom did it.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mom is a badass,\u201d he said. \u201cShe\u2019s the perfect example of a strong woman who does everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gustavo\u2019s mom came to give him a better future and he did not want to let her down, He knew he wanted to pursue a college degree but he didn\u2019t think he would be able to because of his status. So, he did \u201cwhat every immigrant does best,\u201d he found an opportunity.<\/p>\n
Gustavo is not afraid of being deported. He still drives, works and studies despite the threats made from the White House. But he walks a razor\u2019s edge. He\u2019s one bad encounter away from being sent to Mexico without being able to come back.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are people who are scared or worried,\u201d he said. \u201cBut there are others who are fighting and they aren\u2019t going to stop because someone gives us or doesn\u2019t give us anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
His mom does not feel as secure as he does. He said she\u2019s a homemaker now, with the television always turned on to the news. She hears threats from the government and news on deportation raids. Gustavo said she worries for her son constantly.<\/p>\n
Gustavo spoke about an encounter with border patrol. They pulled him over and asked what was his nationality.<\/p>\n
\u201cI lived most of my life on this side [of the border],\u201d he said. \u201cYou don\u2019t try to reason with [border patrol] because they\u2019re just doing their job.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he is Mexican because he was born there. But he barely remembers it.<\/p>\n
He can\u2019t move between El Paso and Juarez like his friends can. He\u2019s jealous of them when they cross.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can see [Juarez] every day but I can\u2019t touch it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Sophie Herbut Gustavo, walked into the caf\u00e9 with ease. Not afraid, not worried, he was calm. He ordered a coffee and talked about a study he read about the stress-relieving qualities they found in coffee, he spoke in English and Spanish simultaneously, switching from one to the other naturally, like they were the same […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":60,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
A Dreamer - La Linea: Stories from El Paso<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/a-dreamer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Dreamer - La Linea: Stories from El Paso\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Sophie Herbut Gustavo, walked into the caf\u00e9 with ease. Not afraid, not worried, he was calm. He ordered a coffee and talked about a study he read about the stress-relieving qualities they found in coffee, he spoke in English and Spanish simultaneously, switching from one to the other naturally, like they were the same […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/a-dreamer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"La Linea: Stories from El Paso\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-03-22T15:08:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2017\/03\/33241552692_99711ccd14_z.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"412\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/a-dreamer\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/a-dreamer\/\",\"name\":\"A Dreamer - La Linea: Stories from El Paso\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-16T16:30:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-22T15:08:10+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/a-dreamer\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/a-dreamer\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/a-dreamer\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Dreamer\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/\",\"name\":\"La Linea: Stories from El Paso\",\"description\":\"Stories from El Paso\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Dreamer - La Linea: Stories from El Paso","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/a-dreamer\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Dreamer - La Linea: Stories from El Paso","og_description":"By Sophie Herbut Gustavo, walked into the caf\u00e9 with ease. Not afraid, not worried, he was calm. He ordered a coffee and talked about a study he read about the stress-relieving qualities they found in coffee, he spoke in English and Spanish simultaneously, switching from one to the other naturally, like they were the same […]","og_url":"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/a-dreamer\/","og_site_name":"La Linea: Stories from El Paso","article_modified_time":"2017-03-22T15:08:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":412,"url":"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2017\/03\/33241552692_99711ccd14_z.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/a-dreamer\/","url":"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/a-dreamer\/","name":"A Dreamer - La Linea: Stories from El Paso","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-03-16T16:30:49+00:00","dateModified":"2017-03-22T15:08:10+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/a-dreamer\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/a-dreamer\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/a-dreamer\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Dreamer"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/#website","url":"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/","name":"La Linea: Stories from El Paso","description":"Stories from El Paso","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/57"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/57\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":122,"href":"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/57\/revisions\/122"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/lalinea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}