C-SPAN highlights the Student Cam competition celebrating the Declaration of Independence's 250th anniversary, featuring winners Tanaya Safi and Juhi Parik with their documentary "Dreamers Deferred: The American Dream on Hold." Focusing on DACA recipients like Diana Montalongo and Tomas Evangelista, the segment exposes how temporary relief creates a "perpetual limbo" where criminal accusations threaten deportation despite lower crime rates among immigrants. While calls for federal compromise suggest military service could grant permanent status, the discussion concludes that without legislative action, the principles of freedom remain uncertain for these contributors, effectively putting their American dream on hold. [Automatically generated summary]
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DACA: Hope and Uncertainty00:07:55
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This year, as we mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, C-SPAN's Student Cam documentary competition invited students to create short films exploring themes from American history, the rights and freedoms rooted in this founding document, and pressing issues of today, from the economy and immigration to criminal justice, education, and healthcare.
Nearly 4,000 students from 38 states and Washington, D.C. took part in this year's competition.
Throughout this month, we're proud to showcase our top 21 winners.
This year's first prize high school West winners are Tanaya Safi and Juhi Parik, 11th graders from Intercom High School in Sacramento, California, where our local partner is Comcast.
Their winning documentary is titled Dreamers Deferred, The American Dream on Hold, about DACA immigrants' pursuit of happiness through American Ideals.
The wrong knock on my door could just be it.
And it's like I look around and I'm like, I built my life here.
I just don't think it's guaranteed.
And it's unfortunate that I do feel like any day it can just be or deferred action for childhood arrivals promised Diana Montalongo a future without constant fear.
To her, DACA was a lifeline, offering her opportunities that previously seemed unattainable.
The Department of Homeland Security is taking steps to lift the shadow of deportation from these young people.
Over the next few months, eligible individuals who do not present a risk to national security or public safety will be able to request temporary relief from deportation proceedings and apply for work offering.
The Obama administration because they could not get comprehensive immigration reform.
DACA became kind of a pressure valve, a release of some pressure among the immigrant community to at least provide some benefit.
And it just became a moral dilemma.
DACA was born from the same spirit as the Declaration of Independence, offering children a chance at life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness rather than punishing them for circumstances they never chose.
On behalf of the time like Transala Fara, welcome to Sacramento.
They joined together these people happen.
I always knew I was from Mexico.
I guess I didn't know what it meant like that I was undocumented until those nine numbers came into play.
Because I was undocumented, it wasn't possible for me to go to college.
DACA was liberating because it allowed me to have hope.
And then later on, it just became like, okay, well, now I can use my degree.
Now I can, you know, apply and buy a car.
It just kind of opened up the opportunities of what I was able to do as I continue to grow up.
I came here at the age of two due to my father abandoning us.
My mom, my mother had the courage to risk everything and come here to give us a better life.
At the age of two, I arrived in Santa Barbara.
I lived there for a couple years with my mother, and she actually ended up passing away of cancer when I was six years old.
When I really understood what being undocumented meant, you know, that I couldn't get a job.
So then I decided to continue my college education and I transferred over to Cal State's tennis laws in Sherlock, and that's where I completed my bachelor's degree in kinesiology.
Diana and Tomas's stories are unique, but they are not alone.
They are among the 164,000 students protected by DACA in California alone and more than half a million nationwide.
However, their future is uncertain because of DACA's limitations.
DACA, as designed, does not provide any kind of permanent legal status.
It provides limited relief from deportation.
And so you're in kind of a perpetual limbo and you have basically any criminal problems.
You can lose your DACA status and be subject to removal from your country.
So DACA is kind of a shaky form of relief.
And it's hard to plan your whole life when your immigration status isn't permanent.
The creation of DACA was unlawful, and that's what the courts have said, that it did not follow the Administrative Procedures Act, the APA, when it was established, when the executive said we're going to offer deferred action to immigrants who are rent as children.
It's no longer accessible to other folks.
I think of current high schoolers now and I'm just as nervous for them as I was for myself back then of like what are they supposed to do?
Right?
Like there's still so many other folks that are in the same boat but don't have that like DACA protection.
DACA's challenges aren't rooted in policy alone.
They're also shaped by how immigrants are viewed.
I know oftentimes you hear of like they don't pay taxes.
Like we do pay taxes.
Mistaken view that immigrants, undocumented immigrants are criminals when in fact the social science status shows that immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than native-born U.S. citizens.
It's unfortunate that the public seems to accept claims that immigrants are sapping our public benefit system.
It's the point where all of a sudden immigrants are the scapegoat for all the ills of society.
There really needs to be a lot of communication, a lot of willingness to compromise and understand.
That really sits at the federal level as the federal government is the one that can really implement immigration policies when it comes to like different statuses and ultimately like a pathway to citizenship.
I mean the hope would be to make DACA a more permanent solution and then take the next step which would be to give dreamers halfway where they can have legal permanent status here in the United States but maybe that they serve in the military, but they serve in you know other capacities and that does give them some legal protections.
These are folks that are contributing to our country, to our communities and you know I think if we could tell more of the stories of who these young men and women are, we'd get more momentum in coming up with a permanent solution.
The Declaration of Independence offered freedom and equality to the British immigrants in America.
However, these principles still remain uncertain for DACA recipients, putting their American dream on hold.
I am Tomas Evangelista and I am a dreamer.
My name is Diana Monterongo and I am a dreamer.
Be sure to watch all of the winning entries on our website at studentcam.org.