DACA meeting held for Dreamers and supporters in Colorado Springs

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- As the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in regards to DACA, supporters met in Colorado Springs to share their stories.

About two dozen people gathered in Vista Grande Community Church Tuesday night to talk about their experiences and their fears about what can happen in the next few months.

“We have grown up here this is our home Colorado is our home, the U.S. is our home,” says Nayda Benitez, a community organizer, and DACA recipient. It was a calmer gathering than some of the other rallies and protests we saw across the nation.

Most of those in attendance were Dreamers like Monica Perez Valdovinos, who has lived in Colorado since she was eight months old. She believes the Supreme Court will side with them.

“I’m pretty hopeful, but it’s still like we are in limbo," she said. "We don’t know what’s going to happen next.”

However, after oral arguments wrapped up for the day, reports from Washington indicate the Supreme Court may be inclined to rule in favor of President Donald Trump.   

That's something that Vickie Tonkins, the chair for the El Paso County GOP, is hoping for. Tonkins says that the DACA program is unfair to others who went through the conventional immigration process. 

"I don't necessarily like the process that it's so long to become a citizen here," Tonkins said. "But like I said before, that is our law and everybody should do that."

Reports out of Washington are making those at Tuesday's meeting fear they could be deported along with about 14,000 other Dreamers in Colorado.

“There’s 700,000 people that don’t know what’s going to happen to their future. Some of them who already have their careers," Perez Valdovinos said. "It’s just very scary.”

The Supreme Court's ruling is expected to happen sometime around June 2020.