The Diablo Valley College community gathered in the Commons on Thursday in a show of solidarity for those affected by the recent repeal of DACA. 

President Trump ended DACA on Tuesday, telling Congress they had six months to replace it or he would revisit the issue, reported The New York Times.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that the implementation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program bypassed immigration laws and “was an unconstitutional exercise of authority by the Executive Branch,” according to a transcript from Time magazine.

At the rally, DVC students, faculty and staff shared their experiences or their family’s experiences with immigration. 

“My mother, uncle, grandfather and grandmother migrated to this country to escape a crucial war that was going on in their homeland in El Salvador,” DVC student and Puente member Sofia Escalante said.

A DACA recipient, told the crowd of how she did not know that she was an undocumented citizen until the age of 12 when she asked her mom if she was born in the United States. She said that she didn’t know that she would be unable to get jobs or go to school and that all of that changed when DACA was implemented. 

Part-time DVC professor Guillaume Fournier told his story of how he and his family immigrated to the U.S. in his youth and how they kept having to go back to France to get their papers in order. He also spoke of how he was told that there was a chance that he might not be coming back to the U.S. at one point.

DVC student Tish Hudson pointed out that DACA isn’t just an issue that is affecting Hispanic and Latin communities. 

“(DACA) affects people of all races. It is not a brown issue,” Hudson said. Hudson also said that people of all different races from all different places are affected, which is why everyone should speak up.  

“Stay strong and stay unified,” 19-year-old DVC student, Muhammad Jackson said, offering words of courage to the crowd.

“We are the many. We are out here, we are mobilizing just as millions are mobilizing across the United States right now,” Albert Ponce, a DVC political science professor, said. In his speech he spoke of acting to change the laws “that seek to dehumanizing people” and being demanding of our legislators in order to change the institutions that legitimize “the dehumanization of people.”

“We were not brought here willingly. My parents risked their lives in order to get to the United States to give my siblings a better life,” said the DACA recipient.

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated. The previous version of this article identified the DACA recipient and  because some DACA recipients have faced retaliation for speaking out we have decided to not publish it.