Undocumented Youth Are Staging a Hunger Strike and Risking Deportation to Protest for DACA

Every day that Congress fails to come up with a permanent solution to shield DACA recipients from deportation, more and more undocumented young people are choosing to fight for their rights, even if it means risking deportation from the only home they’ve ever known.

With the final deadline for the end of DACA protections fast approaching, a group of seven DACA recepients known as the DREAM 7 chose to risk deportation by staging a sit-in protest the offices of Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Carlos Curbelo on Friday. Currently in police custody, the group has begun a jailhouse hunger strike intended to force Democratic leaders to “publicly confirm they have the votes to block any spending bill without a clean DREAM Act.”