Barbara Howard: For so-called “Dreamers,” these are nervous times — what will become of DACA? That's the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. It started under President Obama with bipartisan support. It lets people with good standing who were brought to the U.S. as children come out of the shadows and live their lives without fear of deportation. But President Trump has moved to end the program. It expires in March, but he says that he is open to a deal brokered by Congress that would preserve DACA. Congressional Democrats are tying DACA to the current budget negotiations, saying that they will not support a continuing resolution to fund the government unless the DACA problem is resolved. Now, Trump fired back this morning, tying talks about the budget to his promise of a southern border wall. He wrote in a tweet, "If there is no wall, there is no deal."

Meantime, the deadline for a possible government shutdown is midnight tomorrow, and caught up in all this are DACA recipients themselves. And one of them is 22-year-old Allie Rojas. She was born in Mexico, she is a student at UMass Boston, and she works full time for the city of Chelsea. She's with us in the studio now. Thanks for coming in, Allie.

Allie Rojas: Thank you so much, Barbara, for having me here. It’s a pleasure.

Howard: So how old were you when you came here to the United States?

Rojas: I was four years old.

Howard: And what do you remember about that time?

Rojas: I remember we crossed the border [in] a car. There [were] other people — my 3-year-old sister, and I was four at the time, and I was on the lap of a guy beneath the front, the passenger seat. And I remember him giving me candy to keep me quiet.

Howard: And where was your father?

Rojas: My father, he abandoned us, so my mother was a single mother with two kids and made a decision to come here.

Howard: So your family settled in Georgia and your mother, she came with two children, and then what, she remarried?

Rojas: Yes she did. We … she met my stepfather at the place where they were working.

Howard: Now, did they have further children once they came here?

Rojas: Yes, I have two U.S. citizen siblings.

Howard: OK. So were you aware of your problematic immigration status when you were growing up in Georgia?

Rojas: I believe I was always aware, in a sense, but I did not fully realize what being undocumented meant until I arrived to high school, and college applications, and applying for a driver's license. That's when I really realized that I was inhibited from doing a lot of things that normal teenagers were able to do.

Howard: Were your friends aware of your status?

Rojas: No.

Howard: Did you have to be secretive in Georgia?

Rojas: Yes, because specifically the town [where] I grew up, I think there's still a lot of racism.

Howard: How did you end up here in Massachusetts from Georgia, then?

Rojas: So I graduated high school. I was eligible for a full-ride scholarship. I wasn’t able to take that because I wasn't a U.S. citizen.

Howard: In Georgia?

Rojas: Yes, that's in Georgia. So in Massachusetts, I had some family. I reached out to them and I knew I could work and go to school.

Howard: DACA is not a permanent status — you have to keep reapplying for it. And what is your status right now? Are you due to be reapplying? When does it expire?

Rojas: My status expires in March 2019. I basically have less than two years with my DACA permit.

Howard: If you lose your DACA status, what does that mean?

Rojas: That means I can't work any longer. I wouldn't be able to pay for my school, I have to pay out-of-pocket.

Howard: Now if there is no deal, if Congress fails to agree on a plan to preserve DACA, what would you be doing?

Rojas: I don't even want to think about going back to Mexico. I've been here all my life. I've been here for 18 years. I've thought about the worst case scenario, and if it keeps the same way, I'll have no choice but to go back to Mexico.

Howard: What's it like for you day-to-day?

Rojas: I'm overall a very optimistic person, as a lot of us are. So I refuse to allow this to let me lose sleep.

Howard: Are there any young people, like you, who are DACA recipients who are so scared by this that they've just given up and gone back to their home countries?

Rojas: There has been — I've seen a lot and I've heard a lot of some that — they got tired of being in the shadows before anything happens. Go back home. I unfortunately — I do not want to do that. I'm very hopeful.

Howard: And you have family here?

Rojas: I do. I do have family here.

Howard: Half of your siblings could stay and half would have to go. Is that right?

Rojas:Yes, me and my sister, we both are DACA recipients. She's also from Georgia and she moved up here to go to school, as well. So we're trying to help and lean on one another. 

Howard: So you two are DACA, but you two other siblings were U.S.-born, so they're citizens. So what — it would split up your family if you had to go back? Did you sit down as a family and talk about this?

Rojas: Yes, we have talked about it and that's the plan: my siblings are going to stay with my uncle for the time being, and if they want to go to Mexico, they will make the choice later. But we want to take care of them first and make sure they're OK.

Howard: They're young. How did they take that news?

Rojas: Well, when first Trump was elected, my brother, he woke up and he was crying, he was like, 'I don't want nothing to happen to you guys.' He was very worried. We were all worried. I couldn't believe it. I stayed up at night and then, when I woke up, I was like 'This can't be true.' I didn't want to believe it. But it is the reality and we all have to face it, and we have talked and my parents are prepared in case that does happen.

Howard: Looking back at when the DACA program was first announced at the White House — President Barack Obama had DACA recipients there in the Oval Office, congratulating them with this new program, DACA, that would protect them. A lot of people came out of the shadows because of that. Do you feel as though — that it was a mistake to come out of the shadows in some ways?

Rojas: I don't think it was a mistake for me, but I can see some people are [worried] because they have all our information, they can find us if they wanted to. So I can see where it can be very scary. But I'm still grateful for the opportunity of having DACA to be able to work and contribute to this country that has given me so much.

Howard: Well it looks as though there may be some sort of a decision — we'll know in the next, what, 36 hours or so, by midnight tomorrow. Do you plan to sleep tonight?

Rojas: I do plan to sleep tonight, but I'm always looking at the news. I follow Twitter, I follow all these pages. I'm always very vigilant about what's going on. Something new is always happening. So it's very disheartening, and we get our hopes up, and then we hear that it's not going to happen. I think by this time, I've kind of getting used to the rhythm of things and I don't have my hopes up anymore. I'm just going to take whatever comes my way and deal with it.

Howard: Thanks so much for coming in, Allie.

Rojas: Thank you so much for having me, Barbara.

Howard: That's 22-year-old Allie Rojas. She's a so-called “Dreamer” protected by DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Her fate and the fate of other DACA recipients is up in the air as negotiations in Congress continue.