American immigrants heave sigh of relief after Biden victory

Here to stay

 

By Muhaimin Olowoporoku

Immigrants in America after Joe Biden was announced winner of the election have continued to express excitement as they heave a sigh of relief.

This is because the Trump administration for almost four years has swiftly, choked off immigration to the United States. Trump’s lead government continued to impose stringent immigration policies making it difficult for immigrants to study, work, and seek refuge in the country.

Geraldine Chinga, a recipient of the Obama-era program that shields undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children from deportation said now she can dream again following Biden’s victory. “I’m a dreamer and I can dream again,” he said.

Chinga who found out Biden won the election while running errands said he was in tears and thanking God for people who voted for Biden. “I was just in tears. I was thanking God and the people who helped us vote. And gave us a voice. We can’t vote but right now, I just want to hug every single voter,” she told CNN.

Moises Serrano, a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program which Trump tried stopping in 2017, called this week one of the hardest in his life as he waited for election results.

“Today, when I saw, the news, when I read the news, and my friends were texting me that Joe Biden had won, I had just a huge sense of relief. That impending doom and dread that I had been feeling for the past four days now has been lifted off my shoulders,” Serrano said.

“I feel like I can breathe. I don’t have to worry about my family and my status every single hour of every single day,” Serrano added.

Bruna Bouhid, communications director for United We Dream and DACA recipient said that “It feels cathartic. It feels like we’re waking up from a nightmare. We’re so excited.” He disclosed that there’s been so much crying and laughing among recipients. “There’s so much energy on what we can do in a Biden-Harris administration,” he said.

Terminating DACA was one strategy by Trump to curb immigration to the United. His administration also threatened to end humanitarian protections for people who can’t return to their home countries due to conflict or natural disaster and put up a series of obstacles for migrants trying to claim asylum in the US, among other policies.

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