As lawmakers in Washington, DC discuss and debate the latest iteration of the Dream Act, the founder and head of content for El Tri Online is leading an initiative to help Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients.
Bristol resident Joe Rodriguez and other Latino owned companies are offering five grants covering the $495 cost of a DACA application fee.
For Rodriguez, it’s personal. “I remember growing up without documents and having a feeling of helplessness every single day”, remembers Rodriguez. “It was almost as though my status had sealed my fate.”
So-called Dreamers are young people who were brought to the United States as children and grew up in this country.
The Dream Act of 2021 introduced by Senators Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. this month is identical to the version they in the past two sessions of Congress.
The measure comes as President Joe Biden begins rolling out his immigration reform agenda looking to reverse many of former President Donald Trump’s policies including ending DACA which the Supreme Court blocked last year.
“It is clear that only legislation passed by Congress can give Dreamers the chance they deserve to earn their way to American citizenship,” said Durbin.
A chance is what Rodriguez is also hoping to provide. “As members of the Latino community, we feel that it is our responsibility to give these Dreamers hope”, he said.
The information on how to qualify for the grant program is on El Tri Online’s website. “All they have to do is share one of our posts on social media that we have on El Tri Online, whether it’s on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and then they just have to email us a 60-second video or less that just explains to us why they would benefit from getting this type of help,” Rodriguez said.
You can apply by sending the video to daca@eltrionline.com. The deadline is Feb. 15 at 11 p.m. PT.
Rodriguez who formerly worked at ESPN until 2017 was featured on CTLN last year.
El Tri Online is a bilingual news and information digital outlet focused on Mexican soccer.
