For young undocumented immigrants, the impact of the deal that ended the blink-and-you-missed-it government shutdown is enormous. The compromise that Congress reached early Friday morning will keep the government funded for two years and provide money for community health centers, health care for children from low-income families, disaster relief, and more. But Congress didn't even touch the question of what to do about undocumented youth who have been protected by DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, since President Donald Trump ended the program last September.
“Well, there was no deal,” Reyna Montoya, a DACA recipient from Arizona, said bluntly when asked how she felt about the Friday-morning agreement. She said Democrats got everything they wanted, except help for young people like herself. Montoya has all but moved to Capitol Hill for the last few months to lobby Congress, and isn't giving up on the fight yet.
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