Updated, Dec. 2
Editor’s note: We are protecting the identity of two sources in this story because of their immigration status.
When a local 28-year-old business owner — who moved with his family from Brazil to the Island at the age of 5 — saw the election results on Nov. 6, he knew his world could be changing drastically.
The man grew up on Martha’s Vineyard, built a community on the Island, and established a popular Island business in the trades.
The resident was the recipient 10 years ago of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Plan, also known as DACA, which has allowed him to continue his life here under federal protections. Before DACA, he had been considered an undocumented immigrant, and his family still is.
The 28-year-old is one of the 5,000 DACA recipients in Massachusetts alone, believing in the safety that the Obama administration promised.
“It gave me some sense of security,” he said. “I had no choice when I came to this country — my parents brought me here.”
But with a second presidency under President-elect Donald Trump, and with no clear or immediate path to citizenship, the 28-year-old’s life on the Island now runs the risk of being upended by an administration that campaigned on a promise to carry out “mass deportations.” And specifically, Trump has promised the American people that his administration will roll back protections for DACA recipients, including a very real risk of deportation.
When President Obama signed the executive order for DACA in 2012, the policy that had the potential to protect hundreds of thousands of immigrant children. Now, there are about 530,000 individuals still enrolled. But while DACA provided undocumented youth the ability to reside in the States legally, it didn’t carve out a plan for them beyond that.
The program was also seen as controversial. In order to renew DACA status, recipients have to update and report their address every two years. Depending on who is in the presidential office, that could put them at greater risk for deportation. And until this November, didn’t give them access to healthcare through state and national programs.
Trump has tried to get rid of DACA before. During his first presidency, in 2017, he signed an executive order to end the program. While he succeeded in ending it for future applicants, the Supreme Court at the time claimed it was unlawful to terminate DACA status for those already enrolled. It was a 5-4 vote in the court, with some conservative justices backing Trump’s plan. But in his coming term, Trump will have a larger majority on the Supreme Court, where DACA could be successfully overturned.
For many of those protected by DACA, life in the U.S. far surpasses their experience in the country of their birth. On average, DACA recipients were brought to the states at age 7, and have lived here for more than 20 years, which means many DACA recipients are now adults with fully-fledged American lives. The median age of those currently enrolled in the program is 30. Some have gained their citizenship in different ways, like getting their Green Card through marriage. But many haven’t, including some on the Vineyard.
Advocates on the Island have worked to help DACA recipients, including during the first Trump presidency. Lynn Ditchfield, longtime Vineyarder, translator, and author, helped rally Islanders before and during Trump’s first term in 2016. She spearheaded a group called We Stand Together, which advocated for immigrant rights.
“With very short notice, people pulled together … and immediately began communicating with other communities,” Ditchfield recalled.
Ditchfield and the grassroots group worked with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and local law enforcement to ensure the safety of immigrants on the Island, and protect them from certain ICE raids and arrests.
Ditchfield said they are looking into the same protections again ahead of January.
“Even though there’s preparation [by the Trump presidency] that is dangerous and fearsome — and we’re rightfully afraid — I know this community is also very prepared,” Ditchfield said. “While we acknowledge the fear of what could be, it’s also important to feel the outrage underneath. The fear can’t make us complacent or immobilized. The important thing is to know our rights, to defend our more vulnerable neighbors, and to keep our community safe and together.”
Ditchfield is holding a workshop in January at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum about her book, “Borders to Bridges: Arts-Based Curriculum for Social Justice,” which will feature exercises around immigration.
Life as a Dreamer on the Island
For the 28-year-old who spoke to The Times for this story, DACA changed his life. He arrived in the country as an undocumented child, starting on a journey of assimilation into different ideals, practices, and a culture from what he was used to in Brazil. Life in the States as an undocumented immigrant wasn’t easy. He remembered watching at 16 when his classmates got their licenses, and wondered if he’d ever be able to participate.
When he heard about DACA, he felt like he had a chance at a more normal life. At 18, he received the special protection. He could now get his license, go to college, have a Social Security number, and make a positive impact on the place he calls home.
He not only succeeded in getting a college degree after enrolling in DACA, he also worked hard to start his own business on the Island.
The 28-year-old is far from the only recipient on the Island. Lucas, whose last name we are not using for his protection, is in the process of getting a Green Card after getting married years ago. Like the 28-year-old, he enrolled in the DACA program as a teenager, after being brought to Martha’s Vineyard as a child from Brazil.
Lucas said that the last Trump presidency instilled a fear in him that he has a difficult time forgetting. When he saw that Trump had been elected again, he said he was “disappointed, but not surprised.” Lucas had heard a lot of Trump’s immigration rhetoric, including his promise to supporters at a campaign rally a few months ago, when he said, “On Day 1, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history.”
“It’s sad to know that a leader of this country could care less about kids who are working so hard to survive somewhere where they’re not accepted,” Lucas said. “It makes me sad, but doesn’t surprise me to know that people really don’t care about anyone else’s problems. You can only see your own. I don’t blame them, because they’re being misinformed by people who are doing that on purpose, to lie to them and make them angry.”
Still, Lucas has made the most of his situation. He got a job on the mainland, where his bilingual skills were an asset, and leaned into his Brazilian heritage as well as his American life.
While Lucas feels safer now that his Green Card is on its way, he still worries for his friends who remain on Martha’s Vineyard. “After having lived my whole life [on the Island] … I would definitely feel at a loss [in Brazil] versus here,” he said.
Lorrane Menezes, local gardener, got her Green Card in a different way — through a U visa, which is a specific citizenship path for victims of abuse. Menezes was brought to the States from Brazil at 5 years old by her mother, hoping for a better life. But, for her, the American Dream began as an illusion.
A few years after arriving, her biological parents left the Island, and her American step-father took over guardianship. English was spoken at home, and she eventually lost her ability to speak Portuguese. “I have been here for more than half of my life — I came here when I was 5 years old, so this is my country, regardless of whether or not I was born here,” she said.
The only reason she has a Green Card now is because of the pain she experienced, not because of a path through DACA.
As she put it, “DACA is a dead end for some folks…Luckily I had a great immigration lawyer who didn’t just stop after I got my DACA card — he knew that was a temporary thing, and could be taken away, depending on who was in charge.”
Although the process of obtaining legal residency was a long and emotional journey, Menezes felt it was important to embark on. She said she worked hard to build a life that resonated with her values, and made sure no one could take that away from her. Now, she’s a mother to two young children, owns a small gardening business, and teaches yoga classes. When she had a safe place to land, her world opened up. She spoke about DACA recipients, and how they deserve that same right — an American Dream where the safety of community members is a priority, regardless of their immigration status.
Menezes reflected on what it would feel like to be deported to a country she had so little experience in, and fears for friends she knows who are in the DACA program and don’t have Green Cards yet.
“Every person who comes to this country is coming here searching for some kind of freedom, some kind of better life,” she said. “The people who are coming into this country are not coming here because they had it great in their country… If you want to stop people at the border, that’s a whole other topic, but for the people who have been here and have established lives here, they should not be kicked out.”
