It’s no secret that America’s new president built his campaign on open xenophobia. Donald Trump has perpetuated a false narrative of undocumented migrants as “criminals” and “rapists,” pledged to build a border wall, promised mass deportations, and threatened to end any protections Obama created, including the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). The Obama administration launched DACA in 2012 as a way for young undocumented people, many of whom have been in the U.S. for the majority of their lives, to apply for temporary protection from deportation, usually in order to continue their education or work. Although many colleges accept undocumented students, DACA makes higher education much more attainable.

As a DACA recipient — or a Dreamer, for short — you also can get a social security number, which makes means you can apply for scholarships and loans, as well as work (and pay taxes). You can get a driver’s license and the personal freedoms and work opportunities that come with driving. You can get access to healthcare. You can travel out of the country to study abroad or visit family in crisis. You can get into venues that card at the door. In other words, you can have access to the kind of life many documented people take for granted.

DACA is not a perfect piece of legislation. It offers no pathway to citizenship or permanent protections, which worries the hundreds of thousands of people who had to come forward about their undocumented status in order to apply. Once you have it, it’s still only temporary: you need to renew every two years. Further, by only making deferrals available to youth who have completed high school or are enrolled in school, and who have no criminal record, DACA distinguishes between “deserving” and “undeserving” immigrants.

However, it has had a material impact on hundreds of thousands of people, and its repeal would throw those lives into crisis. Amongst those helping people wade through their concerns are New York Student Youth Leadership Council (NYSYLC), an advocacy organization and scholarship fund run by undocumented youth (donate here), and Make the Road, an organization that helps working-class communities access housing, healthcare, and education, and advocates for policies that support immigrant and QPOC New Yorkers. With their help, The FADER spoke to five people about the opportunities DACA has facilitated in their lives and the way things stand to change if Trump gets his way.