Lexington rally supports DACA

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ)- A Kentucky immigration attorney says she expects the decision to rescind DACA affects over 10,000 people in Lexington and the surrounding area. DACA recipients and supporters rallied Tuesday evening in Lexington to express their disappointment.

Many of those rallying say they are confused about their future in the only home many of them have ever known.

Jeff Sessions may have been the one to make the announcement, but the group rallying in Lexington blames one person, in particular, chanting, “Hey hey. Ho ho. Donald Trump has got to go”.

Friends, family, and DACA recipients joined the thousands of others across the country Tuesday protesting the trump administration’s decision to phase out Deferred Actions for Childhood Arrivals.

“To punish these children is…baffling,” Lexington immigration attorney Heather Hadi said.

Hadi says her firm has been inundated with calls from clients since the announcement.

“This is basically the administration’s ploy in pushing congress into a corner to give us some type of immigration legislation that hopefully will be better than DACA, which is kind of a band aid over a bullet wound at this point,” Hadi said.

Several of the people in the crowd, holding up signs and chanting phrases like, ‘What do we want? DACA!’ tell ABC 36 they are not not just supporters. They are DACA recipients worried about their future in Kentucky.

“My community needs people to be there and show them that this isn’t the end. It’s not a fearful time,” EKU student Milton Meza De Los Santos said.

Meza De Los Santos says he came to the U.S.  at age four from Mexico.

“My parents’ dream was for my sister and I to receive a proper education,” Meza De Los Santos said.

Kentucky is home. Unlike many others, Meza De Los Santos says he is not scared. He wants to reflect the strength he says his community needs. He says seeing the support at the rally is a comforting first step.

In a statement, Senator Mitch McConnell did not comment on the pros and cons of the dreamer law itself. Just the legality of ‘how’ it came to be.

He said, “President Obama wrongly believed he had the authority to re-write our immigration law. Today’s action by President Trump corrects that fundamental mistake.”