Dreamer Jose Yañez attends a celebration of the fifth anniversary of DACA at the Mexican Consulate in downtown Las Vegas Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017.
Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2017 | 2 a.m.
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Jose Yañez was only 7 years old when he and his parents came to Las Vegas from Mexico.
He spent the next couple years learning English, and later became the valedictorian for his high school graduating class at Advanced Technologies Academy before being accepted to Princeton to study mechanical and aerospace engineering.
Yañez shared his story Tuesday night at the Mexican Consulate in Las Vegas during an event marking the five-year anniversary of DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which allowed children like Yañez to stay legally in the United States.
“My parents both had to work full time just to put bread on the table. My dad told me to get an education so I won’t have to break my back like he did,” Yañez said to loud applause.
Yañez, 19, and several others who spoke credited DACA for their ability to stay legally in the United States. The program, established under President Barack Obama in 2012, has granted deportation relief to over 800,000 recipients, knowns as “dreamers,” including an estimated 130,000 immigrants living in Nevada.
DACA allowed Yañez to work as an air conditioning mechanic to support his family in high school, he said, and contributed to his ability to pay for college. He advised dreamers with the opportunity to further their education to do so, in exchange for greater work opportunities down the road.
“You can achieve more with an education than leaving school for minimum wage,” he said in Spanish to a gathered crowd of 150 people, which included 20 local dreamers as well as Latino representatives from Nevada universities, celebrities, athletes and politicians. “Don’t stop studying just to work.”
Fellow Las Vegan Ronald Salinas came here with his family from Mexico when he was 2. He later watched as his two older siblings were forced to return to Mexico for college, because they graduated high school before DACA was established and couldn’t legally study in the United States.
The first in his family to attend an American university, Salinas, 25, said his business degree at UNLV was made possible by the program.
“I’m now able to get a stable income and move forward with my life,” said Salinas, who’s also taking prerequisite courses to apply for UNLV’s medical school. “The ability to work has also allowed me to pay for my education.”
While fear that DACA would eliminated under the administration of President Donald Trump - who among other measures pledged to build a wall on the U.S.’ southern border with Mexico – such fears were at least temporarily alleviated earlier this year.
On June 15, five years and one day after the 2012 memorandum establishing DACA was written, then-Dept. of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said the program “will remain in effect.”
A separate fact sheet released from the department confirmed that DACA recipients “will continue to be eligible” to renew every two years, and notes that “no work permits will be terminated prior to their current expiration dates.”
Speaking at Tuesday’s event, Mexican Consul Alejandro Madrigal emphasized the importance of “taking your future seriously,” to DACA youth, saying the program’s continued success depends on the accomplishments of its recipients.
“In this moment, the future of the program is secure,” Madrigal said in Spanish. “Every one of you have a great opportunity.”
“Don’t forget the great countries you come from,” he added, “But recognize and make the most of this great country you now live in.”
