Undocumented immigrant living in Cincinnati fears deportation if Trump ends DACA

Mauricio Vivar is one of nearly 800,000 immigrants who receive protection under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The Greater Cincinnati resident, along with hundreds of thousands of others brought to the United States when they were children, are anxiously awaiting President Donald Trump’s decision on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (or DACA). Trump is expected to announce the end of the U.S. immigration policy started by the Obama administration, the Associated Press reported Sunday. The policy allows undocumented immigrants who entered the country as minors to receive protection from deportation and eligibility for a work permit. The program expires after two years, but it can be renewed. Vivar moved from Mexico when he was 5. The now 21-year-old doesn’t know much about where he was born, and now he’s concerned he could be sent back. “If nothing comes out of it, a new solution that's not going to hold us back,” Vivar said. Trump is expected to announced an end to the program Tuesday with a six month delay in any action to give Congress time to come up with legislation to replace DACA. “It seems like it could be a long time, six months, but when you think about it the way things are moving now the six months could be over in an instant,” Vivar said. Sens. Dick Durbin and Lindsey Graham introduced a bipartisan bill in July that would grant legal status to many of those covered under the program. Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Lucille Roybal-Allard introduced a companion bill in the House, which would give people under DACA a pathway to citizenship.