Dodge City among communities asking for DACA to stay in place

Tuesday marks the fifth anniversary of the Deffered Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

DACA was implemented in 2012 by the Obama Administration via an executive order to give eligible young undocumented people renewable two-year permits to work and remain in the country.

Eleven states, including Kansas, are threatening to sue the federal government next month if DACA isn't terminated. The states claim the program is an overreach of the government's power.

Laura Viridiana Meza-Vega was brought to the United States by her mother when she was 4 years old. When she realized her legal situation, everything started to make sense.

"And it was because everybody kept turning me away because I didn't have those nine valuable numbers in this country. I didn't have a Social Security number," Laura says.

Dodge City is one of many cities across the U.S., asking President Donald Trump to keep DACA in place.

There are nearly 800,000 DACA recipients. About 7,000 are in Kansas.

Laura will be finishing nursing school at Dodge City Community College in two years. She wants those who question the program to know one thing:

"We are contributing to this economy, and we are helping the economy and the United States grow," she says. "So, to me, it doesn't make sense why you would remove professionals from this country when we are all trying to just contribute to the economy."