Cassa Niedringhaus

cniedringhaus@coloradoan.com

For the first time last week, Brithany Gutierrez went public with where she was born.

The 18-year-old Colorado State University sophomore had spent a decade telling even her closest friends that she was born in Denver. The truth was her family came to Northern Colorado from Mexico with a visa to care for her ailing grandfather.

When the visa expired, Gutierrez's family remained. She was 8.

Gutierrez began telling her story publicly for the first time Nov. 14. She organized a peaceful demonstration that day “to show support for undocumented students on campus,” according to the event’s Facebook page.

Hundreds gathered in the Lory Student Center Plaza, carried signs and stood in solidarity with CSU’s population of undocumented students.

After the demonstration, a friend texted Gutierrez: “How is it possible to enroll in a college without (having) citizenship or residency and are here illegally?”

She replied with an explanation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, an executive action President Barack Obama signed in 2012 that offers protections for certain children who came to the country illegally.

These children — who must have entered the country before turning 16 and before June 2007 — can apply for protection from deportation and a renewable work permit.

President-elect Donald Trump has promised to “immediately terminate” DACA — an action that would have a swift and dramatic impact on about 28,000 DACA applicants in Colorado who have been approved since its inception in 2012.

Trump can undo the program because it was enacted via executive action, rather than an act of Congress.

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Trump won favor with many conservatives who agree with his hard-line stand on illegal immigration. Supporters of terminating DACA argue that children brought into the country illegally should be required to work toward citizenship or face potential deportation rather than apply for continued protections that allow them to remain in the country.

While the termination of DACA would address those concerns, a nationwide outcry has been building post-election to preserve and expand its protections.

As of Tuesday evening, more than 250 university presidents across the country had come to the defense of DACA, citing its ability to allow students to pursue educational opportunities and “actively (contribute) to their local communities and economies,” according to a statement on the website of Pomona College in Claremont, California.

CSU joined the list Wednesday, making it the third Colorado university to join. Metropolitan State University and the University of Denver also appear on the list, which will be updated Monday.

CSU administration also reached out to undocumented students via email after the demonstration Gutierrez organized to express support and open lines of communication with the students.

"We also wanted to write on behalf of the University administration to state our support for our undocumented students as members of our campus community and our pride in your extraordinary leadership and success," the email said, in part.

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For Gutierrez, a revocation of DACA could mean having to return to a country she hasn't lived in since early childhood.

"I don’t know Mexico," she said. "I mean, I remember it, but it’s changed a lot. I don’t know people from Mexico."

Gutierrez is one of about 125 undocumented students, she said, who attend CSU. Some are not protected under DACA. The Migration Policy Institute estimates the total Colorado population of immigrants who came to the country illegally to be 163,000.

An unknown number of undocumented students attend Poudre School District schools. The number is unknown because PSD does not record the citizenship status of its students, according to John McKay, district director of language, culture and equity.

Federal guidelines issued in 2014 prohibit public schools from requiring proof of citizenship.

Students can attend K-12 schools and universities without applying for DACA, but the provision protects them from deportation and allows them the opportunity to receive a driver's license and hold jobs.

Gutierrez is majoring in ethnic studies and has three minors. She wants to attend graduate school and possibly law school, and hopes to work in the United States.

If DACA is revoked, she likely won't be able to afford to finish her undergraduate degree and will lose her driver's license, which will limit her chances at getting a job.

"How am I supposed to get to school if I can’t drive?" she said. "And how am I supposed to pay for any extra costs if I can’t work?"

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Colorado students who came to the country illegally are afforded protections nationally through DACA and also in Colorado through the 2013 ASSET Bill.

The state bill extends in-state tuition at Colorado public universities to students who meet certain criteria. Students must attend a Colorado high school for at least three years before graduation, be admitted to a Colorado university within 12 months of graduating, apply for the College Opportunity Fund and sign an affidavit that they have applied or will apply soon for legal presence in the country. There are 119 ASSET students attending CSU.

ASSET has afforded Gutierrez the opportunity to break a familial cycle and be the first in her family to attend college. Her older brother graduated from high school before such protections were available and therefore didn't attend college.

For the next two months, Gutierrez and other DACA recipients will have to wait to see what their future holds.

"It’s a lot of anxiety," Gutierrez said. "I don’t know what’s going to happen."

Last week, Gutierrez received a letter in the mail. She opened it to find the approval for her DACA renewal.

She promptly burst into tears.

"I think it was all this hidden emotion that I had," she said. "There's some hope."