As DACA debate continues, these Dreamers are saving lives

If Congress fails to reach a deal on immigration in the next couple of weeks, thousands of young people who were brought to this country as children could soon start losing their protection from deportation and their ability to legally work in the United States.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program has allowed nearly 689,000 Dreamers to come out from the shadows and openly attend school, get work permits and driver's licenses and even buy homes without the fear of being deported.
But the March 5 deadline to end DACA, imposed by President Trump imposed last year, is looming. And while the courts have put the termination on hold for now, thousands of DACA recipients will become vulnerable to deportation if the court ruling is overturned and new legislation isn't put in place.
For some communities, that would mean the possibility of losing fellow residents who are firefighters, nurses, emergency care workers and teachers.
Here are three Dreamers who are saving and shaping lives in their communities, even as their own fate in America remains perilous.
Intensive Care Unit Nurse
Ana Cueva, 25    "We're taking care of the sickest of the sick," said Cueva. She's cared for patients who have been in near-fatal accidents and others who have undergone multi-organ failure. She has even helped in cases of severed spinal cords. "Every day is high anxiety. I have to be on my toes."As a shock-trauma nurse in the Intensive Care Unit of Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah, Ana Cueva has to be prepared for every type of emergency.
"I've had to resuscitate patients," said Cueva. "It's emotionally taxing, but I have to have some degree of separation while I do my job because [the patients'] families are watching."
She's lost patients, too. "We do our best, but it's hard when that happens," she said.
Cueva was brought to the U.S. from Guadalajara, Mexico, when she was 5 years old. The family overstayed their tourist visas and settled in Utah.
"America became my home," she said.
One day when Cueva was seven, her mother collapsed at work due to complications from a tumor. "She would tell me how the nurses at the hospital helped her through a difficult time."
That helped Cueva to decide that she wanted to become a nurse one day.
In 2012, she received her DACA status, opening the door for her to enroll in nursing school. She graduated from Utah Valley University's nursing program with honors in 2016 and started working at the hospital last year.
But now she's worried her nursing career may be short-lived. Cueva's DACA status expires in October. "I will be let go if there is no solution for us Dreamers," she said.
Her coworkers have mixed feelings about her situation, she said. Some are supportive. Others have told her she has to face the consequences of coming into the country illegally.

"I've worked so hard for my accomplishments and my skills as an ICU nurse. I can't give all that up and go away," said Cueva. "This is my life. If there was any way I could have applied to be a legal resident or citizen of the United States, I would have done it in a heartbeat."

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