Day and night people are trying to get into the United States of America. No matter the risks they face during this journey, or the cost of the journey, nothing stops them from trying to reach the “American Dream.” Many people from different parts of the world immigrate to the U.S. for different reasons, from religious persecution, economic opportunity, or political reasons. When first arriving to this country many of these immigrants have an anxiety about being deported.  They don’t have any proof of being a legal resident or citizen of this country, and they must live in the shadows.

Right now many high school students are undocumented immigrants and have the right to be in a public school. All this privilege ends when applying to college. This is because they don’t have any documents that prove they’re a legal resident or a citizen.  One of the documents would be a social security number.  Without being a legal resident, students cannot apply for any financial aid. For example, former high school student Dario Guerrero took engineering courses at a nearby college, since he could not provide a valid social security number, he had to pay almost $2,000 for the courses that he took (The Washington Post).   This is an example of how many undocumented high school students, are struggling to build a better life. The dreams of so many undocumented students are crushed, because they can’t graduate college due to financial hardships.

Godinez-Samperio is an inspiring story.  He challenged himself, by not only attending college, he became a lawyer.  As an undocumented immigrant he is battling the Florida’s Supreme Court  in defense of illegal immigrants (nbcnews.com). Godinez-Samperio showed courage by challenging the laws of this country, because he is not only fighting for his dream, he is defending the dreams of other immigrants.

Programs like the DREAM Act (acronym for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) have been taken away from many young students that need this program to continue their education in this country. This is the reason why President Obama has attempted to address some of these programs with executive orders. These programs are known as DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents).  They can help about 11 million immigrants that are currently living in the shadows, because they have no legal rights in this country. Many of these immigrants can’t have a permanent job, because they do not have a work permit. They can’t own a car even though they may have the money to buy it, because they can’t have a driver’s license. All these hopes were taken away from them when the Supreme Court failed to have a majority opinion, stopping  the progress of DAPA and DACA.

In conclusion, programs that bring great benefits to many immigrants should be maintained.  If not families will be separated, dreams of students will be destroyed, and all these immigrants will never achieve the American dream. Imagine if every immigrant were to be a legal resident or citizen. This could increase the economy of this country if they paid taxes.  These immigrants need programs like DAPA and DACA to realize what the “American Dream” feels like.