'I Try Not To Think About It' | DREAMers Await Supreme Court Decision To Continue Or End DACA
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — When one patient arrived at Baltimore's Convention Center Field Hospital, they confided in nurse Jose Aguiluz they were scared and didn't want to die from COVID-19.
Aguiluz said he was happy to inform the man he was recovering from the virus and arriving at the field hospital meant he was on the mend.
But it was a message only Aguiluz could share because the patient only spoke Spanish.
Aguiluz was born in Honduras and is fluent in Spanish. He emigrated to America when he was 15-years-old.
He is one of more than 8,000 young immigrants in Maryland and 700,000 in the country known as DREAMers, all recipients of DACA, or the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
The program was announced in 2012 by the Obama administration and provides temporary work authorization and relief from deportation.
But in 2017, the Trump administration moved to end the policy. Now, nearly a million people are waiting for the Supreme Court to decide their future.
"I try not to think about it," Aguiluz said.
Aguiluz said his patients don't care about his immigration status. He feels he is defined more by what he is called to do than anything else and he feels lucky to be able to do it in Maryland.
"That's why I'm trying to help as much as I can in my community because Maryland is home for me," Aguiluz said.
The Supreme Court has until the end of their term, in late June or early July, to make a decision.
