In President Trump's speech on Saturday, he offered DACA protections in exchange for funding the border wall. DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, impacts about 17,000 people in Washington state.
For years, Paul Quinonez has dealt with the uncertainty of being a DACA recipient. He came to the U.S. when he was 7 and went on to get a degree at Gonzaga a few years ago. He now works in local government.
“President Trump did end DACA over a year ago, and it's been in the courts, and the courts have upheld it,” Quinonez explained. “It's expected to go up to the Supreme Court, and we're still waiting to hear if they'll take up the case.”
Quinonez said there was “outrage” when they learned about the President’s offer to extend DACA protections for three years in exchange for money to fund the President’s Border Protection Plan and end the partial government shutdown.
“It's hard to be surprised by anything this president does, but I think we've seen ourselves being used as pawns throughout time," said Quinonez.
Quinonez is part of the Washington Dream Coalition. He and other members of immigrants rights' groups were already gathered for a forum when the news spread.
“We're taking a stance that we don't support this, and we won't be used as pawns to deport other parts of our communities,” he explained.
Quinonez says those in the DACA and Temporary Protection Status programs want a permanent solution for their status and they hope it doesn't become an “us against them” situation involving government employees who are working without paychecks.
“I hope there's solidarity because now they're seeing themselves used as pawns,” Quinonez said. “He's withholding their checks in exchange for getting this wall, and we see these are issues that are not tied together he needs to immediately reopen the government, and after that, we can talk about some sort of solution for immigration and whatever else.”