LOUISVILLE (WHAS11) -- After the announcement that DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, would be phased out by the Trump Administration, rallies began taking place across the country, including here in Kentuckiana.
Mayor Fischer estimating up to 5,000 people in Louisville could be impacted by this decision. The so-called “dreamers” were joined by at least 100 residents outside the Federal Courthouse on Tuesday.
They're frustrated at the decision by the Trump Administration and are begging the local leaders here in Louisville Metro to step up and help Louisville be the compassionate city it claims to be.
“I'm just sick and tired and all I want is to live my life, without having that fear in the back of my mind,” said one DACA recipient who asked that we do not use her name.
She’s a college student who came to the U.S. from Mexico when she was 6-years-old. She's lived here for 15 years.
“We have been accustomed to this life so much that it's almost impossible and unrealistic to deport all of the DACA people and all of the undocumented people too because they lived more than ten years here,” she explained.
She's among the hundred people who stood outside the Federal Courthouse fighting the decision by President Donald Trump to end DACA,
”Do I live an American life? I try to. Yes, I want safety, I want Freedom, I want freedom of speech, I want these basic human rights that everyone else here does.”
Following a protest on the steps of the courthouse, several marched inside demanding a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“He wasn't there. They gave us the runaround, told us only two people could go up there at a time,” said one protestor as he walked outside.
The frustration there is loud and clear, but others across the country are pleased with the decision to stop DACA.
“It should've never existed in the first place and we applaud President Trump,” said Dave Ray with the Federation for American Immigration Reform, stationed in Washington D.C.
He told WHAS11 News although it's unfortunate for DACA recipients, the decision is necessary.
“This is not the fault of US immigration policy, and it's not the fault of the American people. The responsibility where the DACA recipients find themselves today lies solely on the lapse of their parents who knowingly and with open eyes violated immigration laws and placed their kids in this position.”
The government will no longer accept new applications from undocumented immigrants. Congress is being asked to replace the policy with legislation before it fully expires on March 5, 2018.