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PHOENIX (KSAZ) - Following the announcement that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program, or DACA, will be terminated, an undocumented woman who received top honors at Arizona State University is speaking out.
For Dreamers like Angelica Hernandez, she doesn't know now whether she, along with her family, will be able to stay in the United States. FOX 10 Phoenix first met Hernandez in 2011, as she graduated from ASU, at the top of her class. She was brought to the U.S. From Mexico, when she was nine years old. She later attended Carl Hayden High School, and was a part of the school's famous robotics team.
When Hernandez graduated from ASU, she feared she might be deported.
"It is just very unfortunate," said Hernandez, back in 2011. "I am trying so hard. Taken all the classes, 4.1 GPA. I am doing very well."
The DACA program let Hernandez stay in the U.S. She went to Stanford University and got a Master's Degree, and came back to the Valley. She also married another Dreamer, who's also an engineer.
Hernandez's line of work specializes in energy efficiency. She has two little girls, and has bought a home. Now, Hernandez fears, once again, that she may have to leave the country.
"Definitely trying to provide protection for my daughters, in case I am put in deportation proceedings," said Hernandez. "I am just filled with so much uncertainty and anxiety, and I can imagine a lot of other Dreamers are going through the same thing."
Hernandez said she and her family have proven, over and over again, that they are not a burden to America, but an asset. Meanwhile, officials with the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry said forcing Dreamers like Angelica to leave would be bad for the U.S..
"If you are going to pursue an economic policy that rejects productive members of the U.S. economy, you will look at an economy that is stuck in reverse, not going forward," said Garrick Taylor.
In 2011, Hernandez said if she had to leave the U.S., she would consider moving to Canada, and tech firms in Vancouver would have loved to have someone with her skills and elite education.
She, however, wanted to stay in Phoenix.
If Congress and Trump can't pass a law, however, Hernandez could be part of a brain drain, or highly talented people being forced to take their talents someplace else.