There is a reason that fewer than 10 percent of Americans support Congress, as found in an Aug. 3, 2017 Quinnipiac University poll. They view the institution I visit nearly every day as ineffective, weak and lacking American interests. This summarizes the view by many as of late January, when the spineless Congress chose to vote to fund the deportation of 800,000 young Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients such as myself who, since Sept. 5, have been unable to see their futures beyond six months. This lack of principle is not partisan, which is why GOP members such as Reps. Carlos Curbelo ,R-Fla., and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen ,R-Fla., and Democrats like Sen. Elizabeth Warren ,D-Mass., and Sen. Kamala Harris ,D-Calif., all voted against the ineffective short-term management of congressional funding, better known as  “CRs.” Americans also view this institution as ineffective, because since 2001 they have failed to pass any solution for Dreamers, even though more than 80 percent of American constituents urgently want this to be solved, according to a Jan. 20 CBS News article.

Since October 2017, President Donald Trump has held dozens of bipartisan meetings focused on the legislative solution of DACA. In September 2017, he reached a deal with Democratic leaders Sen. Chuck Schumer ,D-NY, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi ,D-Calif.,. Trump turned his back on this deal just a mere two days later. Months later, he held a televised bipartisan meeting, urging Congress to send him a “bill of love,” according to a Jan. 9 CNN article. He even urged, at the questioning of Sen. Dianne Feinstein ,D-Calif., that he would support a clean, stand-alone DREAM Act, while then focusing on comprehensive immigration reform. The president’s response was that he would “take the heat” if Congress were to pursue an immigration reform bill, according to a Jan. 9 Politico article. Well, two days later, exactly that was done. Senators Lindsey Graham ,R-S.C., Jeff Flake ,R-Ariz., and Dick Durbin ,D-Ill., had a bipartisan bill that addressed every single concern brought about by the president. Yet again, Trump used derogatory comments and flipped on his position by choosing not to support the bill he had supported nearly nine hours earlier. That is likely because this White House is guided by Stephen Miller, a man who wishes to use 800,000 Dreamers as political chips to reduce legal — yes, legal — immigration by over 50 percent, according to a Jan. 18 article in the Atlantic. White House Advisor Stephen Miller has sought to persuade the president to use DACA, a program that 80 percent of Americans support against anti-immigrant policies even many moderate GOP members oppose, because they seek to reduce legal immigration by 50 percent. 

This is why the most recent shutdown was so urgent and crucial. Never in the history of this modern nation had a shutdown occurred when a single party controlled the House, Senate and White House. This especially should not happen to an issue with bipartisan solutions that had already been negotiated and accepted. But beyond that, what is lost in all this hubris is the urgency of these 800,000 lives. When we watch the television and news, these aren’t just mere political talks on CNN or Fox News; these are conversations about our direct and physical future in our only home. These are soldiers, teachers, students, mothers, children and workers staring at a screen, because their direct ability to succeed in this country will be decided within weeks. 

All my hard work in the last 19 years is at stake, because since Sept. 5, 2017, I have been unable to clearly see my future in my only home. Come August, my DACA status expires, and my life is thrust in imminent chaos as my education is in jeopardy, but also because someone like myself could be detained and deported to a country I do not call home. It will mean going back to a country where I do not even command the native language and to a city ,Caracas, Venezuela, that is now ranked deadliest in the world, according to an April 8, 2017 Business Insider article. The constant thought of deportation is now a topic I wake up every morning thinking about. Without congressional action, I will become a target for deportation — along with 800,000 other DACA recipients who, for all intents and purposes, are Americans in every way.

Congress must remember that any immigration bill they pass will take months to fully implement, which is why it is so critical for them to pass legislation without delay.

According to a Nov. 9, 2017 article from American Progress more than 15,000 Dreamers have lost their work authorization and deportation protections since Trump eliminated the DACA program on Sept. 5. Every single day, 122 other Dreamers lose their status — and this trend will continue until Congress affirmatively takes action to protect us from deportation, as stated in the same American Progress piece. Come March, that number will rise to 1,200 Dreamers losing protections every single day, according to Fwd.us. I urge you to count from one to 1,200 in your head to see the dramatic impact this will have on our workforce and economy and on American families every single day. 

I have been fighting tirelessly to be in the only country I know, spending more days in Washington D.C. this school year — lobbying on behalf of three advocacy groups — than I have even been able to spend in Boston. These meetings are on the future of 800,000 people who have no clarity beyond March. This advocacy has led to the support from the Brandeis Student Union, which passed a resolution urging members of Congress to pass immediate relief. Protecting Dreamers is an issue that is both urgent and imminent. There is strong bipartisan support in Congress to allow Dreamers like me to stay here, and it is something that 80 percent of Americans would like to see be resolved. I urge every member to follow their constituents and pass a legislative solution for Dreamers that is rooted in compromise, the fundamental basis of our nation and U.S. Constitution.