DACA Recipient In Maryland: "Our Lives Are Important;" Immigration Deadline Looms

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — There are 10,000 DACA recipients who live in Maryland. After months of waiting to learn their fate, the next two weeks could decide their immigration status.

The standoff on Capitol Hill that has left "Dreamers" in limbo since September could come to an end in 16 days.

"Now, those talks can get going again. Whether they bear fruit is up to all of us," says Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

McConnell is promising talks and a vote as part of Monday's compromise to reopen the federal government after a three-day shutdown, which was partially brought on by an extended dispute on immigration. The deadlock between lawmakers ended Monday night, with still no resolution for the hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. by their parents when they were children.

"They're using us as bargaining chips, and we are not," DACA recipient Monica Camacho-Perez said. "Our lives are important, and they need to do something to fix this whole issue."

The 23-year-old is a native of Mexico but has lived in Baltimore since she was seven and is now a student.

She is one of 10,000 dreamers in Maryland and among more than 700,000 nationwide.

"I have my family here. My family is undocumented, I don't want to go back to a country that I no longer see as my home, because this is my home," Camacho-Perez said.

As negotiations resume, Maryland's democratic lawmakers are pushing for a bipartisan agreement on immigration reform.

Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen tweeted Monday afternoon.

Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger wrote that he hopes lawmakers will "make good on their promises to negotiate."

President Donald Trump tweeted Monday morning.

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