On this episode of Fronteras:
- Students from the University of Texas at San Antonio look to address the needs of undocumented students.
- San Antonio students find support at UTSA’s Dreamers Resource Center, which provides assistance to undocumented students (3:12).
- Asylum seekers are being denied their legal rights at U.S. detention centers (13:35).
- Thousands of refugees take advantage of a legal loophole to cross the northern border from the U.S. to Canada (16:32).
UTSA DREAMERS TAKE ACTION TO CREATE RESOURCES
In this Fronteras exclusive, we look at a federal judge's decision to put a hold on President Trump’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Renewals are once again being accepted, but only for existing or past DACA recipients. But the future of DACA is still uncertain. Trump has offered protection for so-called Dreamers, but only in exchange for funding for a wall and other border security measures. How is this affecting young undocumented Texans? And where can they find resources to get them through this uncertain time? Fronteras producer Jerry Quijano reports.
UTSA OPENS TEXAS’ FIRST DREAMER RESOURCE CENTER
The uncertain future of DACA is causing concern among undocumented college students. UTSA is reaching out to dreamers through its new Dreamers Resource Center. The center opened Jan. 19 as a one-stop shop for UTSA’s DACA and unDACAmented students to find the resources they need to succeed in higher education.
In this Fronteras exclusive, Courtney Balderas-Jacob, interim program manager for the UTSA Dreamer Resource Center, and Jaciel Castro, a student regent with the University of Texas System Board of Regents and graduate student at the UTSA College of Business, spoke to Fronteras about the center.
For more, read and listen to this the extended interview.
ASYLUM SEEKERS IN THE U.S. BEING DENIED THEIR RIGHTS
President Trump took office a year ago promising to ramp up border security. A new report finds this has resulted in worsening situations for asylum seekers.
The U.S. can’t turn away migrants seeking asylum for fear of persecution, b ut new data shows asylum seekers are being mistreated both at the border and while in detention. Reporter Mallory Falk has more.
REFUGEES TAKE ADVANTAGE OF LOOPHOLE TO ILLEGALLY CROSS FROM U.S. TO CANADA
As Temporary Protected Status ends for about 200,000 Salvadorans living in the U.S., some are walking from New York and Vermont into the Canadian province of Quebec. Thousands of others have gone a similar route, crossing illegally into Canada, seeking refugee status through a legal loophole in a US-Canada treaty. Lorne Matalon reports from the US-Canada border in upstate New York.
Norma Martinez can be reached by email at norma@tpr.org and on Twitter @NormDog1