Faces of Dreamers: Diana Umana, Smith College

This is one in a series of posts on individual Dreamers, undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as young children, many of whom are under threat of deportation following the Trump administration’s decision in September 2017 to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, or DACA.

Originally from El Salvador, Diana Umana, a junior at Smith College (MA), and her family have been able to live in the United States without fear of deportation thanks to an alphabet soup of government programs: DACA for Umana, and TPS, or temporary protected status, for her parents, reports the Smith Alumnae Quarterly, in an interview with Umana titled, “One Student: A Life in Limbo.”

But all of that changed over the past few months with the rescission of DACA in September 2017 and the subsequent move in January to end the protected status of 200,000 Salvadorans, including Umana’s parents. Congress could still intervene on behalf of DACA recipients and longtime TPS holders, but in the meantime, Umana faces an uncertain future.

“Coming out as undocumented is a big decision to make. It’s pretty scary,” Umana said. “You never know how people are going to react, and that causes a lot of anxiety. For me, it was about weighing the positive outcomes: I could meet other undocumented people and raise awareness. Now, if something were to happen to me, I’d have support.”

To read the entire interview, click here.