If DACA gets repealed I’ll lose my license
Note: Hector, 19, a DACA-recipient is sharing his story to bring the sacrifice of the undocumented community to the public attention and shift power to win licenses now. You can donate now to support Hector and our growing team.
Today I am walking 12 miles in the rain and cold. When I woke up, I didn’t think about discomfort. My first thought was: This is what we need to do for my community. Today I’m walking 12 — but I still have 50 miles to go.
Yesterday we launched a historic pilgrimage from Grand Rapids to Lansing to demand licenses for all immigrants. We are a group of dozens of immigrants, allies and leaders fighting for what our community deserves — the right to drive without fear. A right that has been denied to immigrants all over the country, and has caused countless families to fear in silence and to be separated.
As a DACA-recipient, I currently have a license, but with DACA in limbo, I cannot feel any certainty about my status and my ability to drive without fear in the future. My DACA allows me to get a license. But it doesn’t stop me from being profiled and pulled over. It doesn’t stop me from being afraid for the rest of the community, my family, and my neighbors.
For 10 years undocumented immigrants in Michigan have been unable to obtain or renew drivers licenses. That means thousands of us have had to drive to work, to school, to the grocery store, to visit friends and family, always with the fear that we may be pulled over, detained by police, taken by ICE, and even deported and separated from our families. For 10 years, that has been our secret struggle. But we are not going to struggle in silence anymore.
As a college student, I travel between Sturgis and Kalamazoo all the time. Like a lot of people, I love driving and having that freedom. But sometimes I wonder if I’ll even be able to renew my license in a few years?
Over the next five days, over 50 of us are traveling to Lansing. Because if we cannot drive without fear, we’re going to walk the entire 65 miles.
We will be sleeping on church floors, eating community donations, and depending on all of our supporters to walk over 10 miles every day. It will be very hard. We’re going to need a lot of help. But the politicians in Lansing will never just “give” our people licenses. The only way we are going to win is with the support of the entire immigrant community, because no one will fight for us unless we do it ourselves. The community has been the base of this pilgrimage. Every meal, every pair of socks, every place we sleep is all through donation — every time someone donates, our team can do so much more.
Our march has a unique purpose. Politicians have debated if this is the right time or the right way to grants licenses again. and again. and again. We have waited and nothing has happened. But what our community has not done is show our power and demand licenses for our own community. No major civil rights victory was just “granted,” it was fought for.
We have never before all come together, immigrants and allies, to demand licenses for all in our state. Today is the beginning. Immigrants from Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Sturgis, Ann Arbor, Detroit, and Lansing are already joining to support this pilgrimage.
We have sacrificed every day since we came to this country. We have sacrificed out of the love for our family. We are going to be sacrificing a lot over these next five days. But I’m making this sacrifice to because the rest of Michigan needs to see it. And they need to know that we are can win licenses for all.
To stay updated on our pilgrimage and to follow me and my community along, join us on Facebook.
