On Aug. 1, the House of Representatives passed bill H.R. 5272. The bill limits the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program just as thousands of unaccompanied Central American children have recently been caught crossing the border. Now, activists are sharing their views about the bill's message to immigration supporters and what politicians really hope to get out of it.

The bill

H.R. 5272 was introduced by Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., on July 30, 2014. According to the bill's title, it aims to "prohibit certain actions with respect to deferred action for aliens not lawfully present in the United States." Basically, the bill prevents President Barack Obama from extending his DACA program to benefit the 57,000 unaccompanied minors caught at the border from October 2013 to June of this year, according to The Associated Press, by prohibiting him from adding new or denied applicants to the program, creating a new deferred action program for immigrants or distributing work permits to the undocumented.

According to Juana Flores, a former undocumented immigrant, current U.S. citizen and co-director of Mujeres Unidas y Activas, a grassroots organization dedicated to Latina immigrants, the decision has left immigrants highly "concerned" and "confused."

"They're looking to block presidential deferred action because over 11 million undocumented immigrants [in the U.S.] need to have their documents put in order to support a new immigration process," she said in an interview with Latin Post through a Spanish language translator. "If he supports that, they'll [immigrants] live freely, and that's something Congress doesn't want."

The bill was passed 216-192; 212 Republicans voted yes, alongside four Democrats jumping party lines, according to GovTrack.us. The bill's passing has further isolated the Latino community from the GOP, Andrea Mercado, campaign director at domestic workers' rights group National Domestic Worker's Alliance and co-chair of its women's group for immigration reform, We Belong Together, said.

"[The GOP] is really sealing their fate with the Latino community and with all immigrant communities," she told Latin Post. "The majority of American people want an immigration process ... and the Republicans were unwilling to vote on the Senate bill. ... They're sending a message to the nation that women and children fleeing safety from violence are not welcome here. It really goes against our values. At this point it's become really clear that everyone now is turning to the president -- that executive action. ... It's the only way to provide relief to immigrant families."

Despite immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras saying cross the border because their countries are dangerous, Flores says they have received no support from Republicans.

"[H.R. 5272 is] not just against one but all minorities, but Republicans are blaming us for many years now," she explained. "We come from such poor or bad countries according to them, but they know what's going on at the very heart of it. They want us to feel we're the bad people, and we are to blame for economic problems in the [U.S.]."

Why is DACA important?

A year after Obama initiated DACA on June 15, 2012, over 430,000 people had received deferred action, according to a 2013 report by liberal-leaning think tank Center for American Progress. By March of 2014, 553,197 applicants were approved, a report by American Immigration Council, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, said.

"When you hear young people speak on how DACA changed their lives, how they still have undocumented families suffering [but] they can now finally work and be more able to realize their dreams ... those kinds of stories illustrate the importance of DACA," Mercado said. "... There's also a need for us to go much farther and recognize the contribution of 11 million immigrants who are here cleaning our homes, taking care of our kids, harvesting our crops and cooking in our kitchens. Immigration policy has such an important role in our economy."

According to the American Immigration Council, because DACA gives recipients Social Security numbers, their opportunities increase. Two years after the program began, 59 percent of recipients got a new job, 57 percent got a driver's license, 49 percent opened their first bank account, 45 percent began to make more money at their job, 33 percent got their first credit cards and 21 percent obtained Health care.

According to Flores, the DACA program can bring tranquility to the daily lives of millions of undocumented people who constantly must worry about things like finding someone to drive their kids to school.

"DACA helps everyone live more peacefully and calm, to know that everyone driving has passed the test to do so," Flores said. "DACA gives working people Social Security numbers and the right to Health care. This makes them provide better service at work since they have healthy lives."

Most of the unaccompanied minors caught at the border since October 2013 come from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, also collectively known as the Northern Triangle, and cite dangerous conditions as the reason for their immigration.

According to a 2012 report by the Assessment Capacities Project citing 2012 data by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, there were 143,588 homicides in the three countries from 2004-2013. The homicide rate in the Northern Triangle was 41.9 per day during the time. Honduras was reported to be the "most violent country in the world" with 90.4 homicides per 100,000 people. Meanwhile, El Salvador and Guatemala had rates of 41.2 and 39.9 respectively -- rates higher "than during their civil wars," the report said.

"There is human trafficking, and people are forced into poor situations, whether as drugs smugglers, mules, sex workers, domestic workers, circus workers, and other areas where they don't have protection, don't get paid, get abused or even raped," Flores said, adding that sending the children back could cause a "chaos situation."

Why end DACA?

Despite the opportunities DACA gives to millions of immigrants living in the U.S., most of the House's Republicans voted to end it.

"Republicans are more concerned with maintaining their base of Tea Party votes than the lives that hang in the balance," Mercado said. " ... They're trying to limit the presidential authority to exercise common sense solutions."

Mercado is not the only one who suspects ulterior motives by the Republican Party. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has suggested that the bill was meant to "sweeten the pie" for conservatives to whom Republicans "pander," NBC News reported.

Meanwhile, Flores suspects that Republicans that passed the bill do not wish to have all undocumented immigrants leave the country because "they need us." Instead, the activist believes the bill is intended to limit the power and spirit of a population that is steadily increasing its numbers and influence in the U.S.

"They need us to be in the shadow," she explained. "They don't want to deport us all, but they want to scare us, and intimidate us and have us live in fear so we don't have full rights ... They know we work cheap, that we don't charge full prices and don't get a dignified wage. So I don't think they actually want all of us to leave this country."

Flores also believes that the bill is a plaything of "internal politics" between the "divided" Republicans and Democrats.

"Most Americans have seen that there's broad support to create an immigration process that works. Politics has been getting in the way," Mercado said.

Looking Ahead

Although H.R. 5272 was passed by the House, it still must pass the Senate and be approved by President Obama before it becomes a law. Activists have hope that the bill will not make it pass these last steps. Mercado said the bill is not "viable," and thus will not be passed by Senate and would be vetoed by Obama if it was.

In addition, activists find hope in support from the undocumented and citizens alike. This was seen on July 31 when 112 religious and community leaders were arrested during a pro-immigration rally on the White House lawn, NBC Washington reported. The arrested included rabbis, pastors and nuns.

"This shows show broad the support is. With religious leaders of every denomination and every race and ethnicity, it really emphasizes the fact that this is a moral issue," Mercado, who was at the White House that day, said. "... How are we going to rise to this challenge of the nation and put human beings and kids above bipartisan politics?"

Flores was also at the White House on July 31 and held a silent prayer for those being arrested.

"There was in a time in public when we were more separated, and now it's easier to see that we're right," she said. "We are not one group, but a bunch of groups all across the country working together now. ... To see [the movement] growing is an inspiration. It fills me with hope and pride that we're not a separated group but rather a united one."

Flores was most touched to see some undocumented mothers stand up for their views, despite their chances of being deported and separated from their children. The women decided "whatever happens, happens" because the need to protest anti-immigration legislation is extreme, Flores said.

"It gives me so much strength when these women expose themselves to danger because now we're saying, 'At this point I have to protest. ... I know I don't have papers and I have family, but it's necessary to expose myself to danger because we can no longer live in the shadows,'" she continued. "We no longer have to live through intimidation, separation and fear. I see mothers take this risk and say, 'It doesn't matter if I'm deported; I'll find someone to take care of my kids because I'm sick and tired of this.'"

Flores' and Mercado's groups plan to organize a pro-immigration march sometime in September to ask President Obama to expand his DACA program to make more immigrants elible. Meanwhile, there will be weekly protests at federal buildings, pleas with the government to deal with immigrants on a "case-by-case" basis, according to Flores, and education about the Northern Triangle and its current dangerous state.
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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.