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DACA Student Sees Court Ruling Through Lens Of Uncertainty

Carlos Yanez is a freshman at Arizona State University and a Dreamer. His DACA status is set to expire August, but a new court ruling will allow him to apply for a renewal.
(Photo by Matthew Casey, KJZZ)
Carlos Yanez is a freshman at Arizona State University and a Dreamer. His DACA status is set to expire August, but a new court ruling will allow him to apply for a renewal.

A federal judge ruled late Tuesday that the Trump administration can’t end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — commonly known as DACA — while a lawsuit decides the program’s fate.

DACA recipient Carlos Yanez was in the shower when his mom started yelling that the program protecting him from deportation had been reinstated.

The news made Yanez happy and excited. But it doesn’t negate the constant uncertainty he’s faced in recent months.   

“Right now I just really don’t know what to feel,” Yanez said. “I’m going to wait it out and see what happens. But I don’t want to get my hopes up.”

Yanez’s DACA permit expires in August, which is why the Arizona State University freshman had already set aside his dream to become a doctor.

But the new court order says the government has to give DACA extensions to anyone who qualifies.

Yanez plans to apply for a renewal and keep going to college.

Matthew Casey has won Edward R. Murrow awards for hard news and sports reporting since he joined KJZZ as a senior field correspondent in 2015.