As Supreme Court considers end to DACA, some Dreamers are already leaving U.S. behind

Born in South Korea but raised in Montclair, New Jersey, Eun Suk "Jason" Hong seemed on the cusp of another American success story when he graduated from college in 2015. 

Hong, whose mother brought him to the U.S. at age 10, landed a job as a financial planner and was looking forward to starting a career.  

But in 2017, President Donald Trump moved to do away with DACA, the program that allowed him to work legally in the U.S., and Hong's outlook began to change. In August, he quit his job and moved to Spain to seek a master's degree in business administration. 

He's now barred for a decade from returning to the country where he grew up. But he also has left behind the anxiety of America's immigration wars. 

"I wanted some certainty and control,'' Hong said in a recent phone interview from Madrid. "Emotionally it was one of the scariest ideas I had to accept."

Hong is among the "Dreamers" — undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children — who are leaving their adopted home in frustration. With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to rule on DACA's future by June, some are taking matters into their own hands and moving to Europe, Mexico or Canada.

Some of those enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program have been able to gain legal status while staying in the U.S. They've applied for asylum or visas or married American citizens. But others are saying goodbye to the only country many of them know. 

When Trump announced his plan to terminate the program in September 2017, there were 689,800 active DACA recipients. That has declined by more than 40,000, to 649,070, according to the latest figures on the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services website.  

Trump says the Obama-era initiative is unconstitutional, but his move to phase out the program has been blocked by legal challenges. The Supreme Court is expected to announce sometime before the end of June whether the president has the authority to end DACA.

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Although the federal government doesn't track how many DACA recipients have left to pursue life in another country, those who work with immigrant communities say it's becoming a more common choice as a Supreme Court dominated by a conservative majority moves closer to a decision. 

"It has been an option people are taking into consideration, more and more,'' said Daniel Arenas, 30, who moved back to Mexico from South Carolina in 2011 and later co-founded Dream in Mexico, an organization that helps those who have chosen to return after growing up in the United States. Arenas, who emigrated from Mexico when he was 4 years old, now travels back and forth between the two countries for work. 

"We have talked to people who said they are living in states where they can’t go to college," he said. "Seems like even though they have DACA, some say it's not helping them accomplish their life’s goals."  

Francesc Ortega, a professor of economics at the City University of New York's Queen College, said the country has invested in educating DACA recipients, and now when some are ready to contribute to the economy they are forced to leave because of the barriers imposed. Ortega, whose work was published in 2016 by the National Bureau of Economic Research, estimated that each undocumented worker contributes around $70,000 to the U.S. economy each year. 

Each currently employed DACA recipient who leaves the country will cost the national GDP that amount, Ortega said. If they lose DACA's protections but stay in the U.S. as illegal workers, their economic contribution would be reduced by $7,000, he said. 

'Triumph for the rule of law'

Supporters of policies to limit immigration say undocumented immigrants cost taxpayers money, pointing to research that shows they consume more in public services than they pay for with taxes. 

“Fewer than 50 percent of DACA beneficiaries have a high school diploma. An even smaller number have a college education,'' said Matt O'Brien, director of research for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, citing the group's own studies. "And only a tiny proportion have professional qualifications or other highly marketable skills. So it’s far from clear that any of the so-called ‘Dreamers’ have exerted any positive effect on the U.S. economy as a result of their education or job training."

A majority of Dreamers occupy entry-level or low-wage jobs in construction, food service and maintenance industries, and that means they are in direct competition with "economically vulnerable Americans," he said.

"The departure of ‘Dreamers’ from the United States should be considered both an economic good and triumph for the rule of law,'' O'Brien said.

President Barack Obama created DACA through executive action in 2012. Applicants had to pass criminal background checks to obtain two-year, renewable work permits and a Social Security card. In some states, including New Jersey, that also opened the door for recipients to obtain driver's licenses.

For the first time, they were able to legally work and make money to pay for college educations and contribute to household expenses.

Moving out

Rodrigo Diaz, 28, was born in Mexico but moved to California when he was 3 years old. He applied for DACA in 2012, a few months after the program began. The new status allowed him to go to college part-time near his home in Montclair, California. He got a job as a sales associate at a Best Buy store and contributed to household finances.  

But in 2016, as Trump was gaining momentum on the campaign trail and vowing to curb illegal immigration, Diaz, his parents and his sister moved back to Mexico. They had been talking about returning for some time to reunite with family, but Trump helped them make the decision, Diaz said 

"I felt I can either let this man, who doesn't know who I am, decide my fate and decide whether I can stay or go in a country I have known my whole life, or I can take the decision back and move back to my country of birth,'' he said.

Though DACA allowed him to study and work, it still placed limits on him, he said. 

"It wasn't a path to citizenship. It wasn't a path to anything. It was sort of like a dead-end road,'' he said. "I wanted more."

The day Diaz and his family left, they woke up in a nearly empty apartment and said their goodbyes to family and friends before heading south. After crossing the border and arriving in Tijuana, with the United States behind him and Mexico in front, a sense of disorientation set in, he said. 

"Everything I ever knew was California,'' recalled Diaz, who had never strayed far from the Golden State for fear of deportation. "Once you cross over, the architecture changes. There was a lot of colors, a lot of stuff was happening. It was a little intense." 

Diaz now works in marketing for a footwear company. He keeps up with the latest news concerning DACA and feels relief that he no longer has to worry about the Supreme Court's outcome, not to mention the $495-a-year fee to renew his DACA status.

"Having the burden on my shoulders of what is going to happen with me ... I don't have to think about that anymore,'' he said. 

'Dream accomplished' — in Mexico

Yovany Diaz Tolentino, 28, was raised in Georgia but now lives in San Miguel, Mexico. He received a certification this year to teach English as a foreign language from the University of Dayton in Ohio after taking classes long distance. 

"Dream accomplished,'' he said. "I will now have a career, and now I don't have to migrate or look for better opportunities."

Diaz Tolentino, who returned in 2015, went back even though family and friends advised him to stay in the U.S. He said life wasn't easy in Georgia, where he worked as a manager at a McDonald's but had no prospects of going to college. Georgia does not allow undocumented immigrants to enroll in top colleges and receive in-state tuition.  

In Mexico, he works in a restaurant and thinks about using his talents to help others in the future. 

"Now, I am dreaming about being the best teacher in Mexico,'' he said. 

Hong, the New Jersey émigré, recently completed an MBA degree from the IE Business School in Madrid, and started classes for a master's in business analytics and data. He wants to launch a financial tech startup in Spain. 

He would like to return to the United States one day, but is also looking to move to Canada, which has attracted more DACA recipients in recent years.

"We are good, bright young individuals who are hungry for success,'' he said. "All we wanted is an opportunity, and right now we are taking that opportunity in our own hands. And it's the country's loss because they couldn't provide it for us."

Time to leave?

It's a decision that Itzel Hernandez, 26, of Red Bank, New Jersey, has pondered, too. A community organizer for the American Friends Service Committee, she was born in Mexico but moved north when she was 10. Now, she's thinking about pursuing a master's degree, possibly in Germany, where it's more affordable. 

Hernandez graduated from New Jersey City University in Jersey City in 2017 with a dual degree in political science and national security studies. She had hoped to work in counterterrorism with the FBI, but being undocumented prevents her from working for the agency, she said. 

"It's a very personal thing to have to choose,'' she said. "In all ways, you feel and you consider yourself an American, so it feels like you are being kicked out of your own home, and not by choice. I don't want to give up on the idea that this is going to get better ... but what you see and what you hear doesn't always match up with what is going on at the federal level." 

Monsy Alvarado is the immigration reporter for NorthJersey.com. To get unlimited access to the latest news about one of the hottest issues in our state and country,  please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: alvarado@northjersey.com Twitter: @monsyalvarado