KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The United States Supreme Court’s ruling on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program may have come as a surprise to some, but it’s a welcome one for young immigrants, known as Dreamers, in the Kansas City metro.
“Very emotional first of all, very emotional. I’ve been fighting for this cause for several years now,” Zaid Consuegra-Sauza said Thursday.
Consuegra-Sauza is a DACA recipient. When he was 11 years old, he moved to the United States from Mexico City, Mexico.
Currently, Consuegra-Sauza is the co-owner and chef at Pirate's Bone Burgers in the Crossroads Arts District.
“It’s crazy how much we bring to this economy, to this country, and we treat it as such, we treat it as our own, we live here, there’s no second home,” Consuegra-Sauza said.
Nearly 800,000 people have taken advantage of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allows people brought into the U.S. as children to avoid deportation and be eligible to work.
Waiting for the Supreme Court’s ruling, Consuegra-Sauza said he’s had to live in fear.
“Even those who are against us, I wouldn’t want them to live what we all have lived through. It’s less than ideal," Consuegra-Sauza said. "We are treated you know, less than people, less than human sometimes."
Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley shared his thoughts on the ruling via Twitter. Hawley, a Republican, told 41 Action News that the court’s decision was a disappointment.
“I’m disappointed in the ruling for this reason, the Supreme Court interpreted the law and issue here, which is an administrative law, and held the Trump administration to a totally different standard than it has held the Obama administration in the past or other Democratic administrations," Hawley said. "My big issue is how they’ve gone about this; the court’s essentially just rewriting statutes and they’ve been doing it all week."
For more than 20 years, Consuegra-Sauza told 41 Action News he’s been unable to travel to Mexico City or visit his family because of the fear he wouldn’t be allowed back into the U.S.
Consuegra-Sauza said he’s hopeful the court’s decision is another step forward.
“There’s no reason why I should live my life in fear. No one should,” Consuegra-Sauza said.
While DACA survives for now, the Trump administration could try again to end it.
