Published 3:59pm.

"I think we live in the shadows”: Iliana Pech Cruz was brought to the U.S. illegally at the age of four months. She’s able to stay thanks to a federal programme, but a Trump-aligned Republican Party could spell its end if the Biden administration doesn’t move to ratify it in law.

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In recent decades, immigration has become one of the most controversial political issues in the U.S., as politicians consistently promise to stem the ‘crisis’ on the border with Mexico.

But behind the headlines, campaigns and policies, there are human beings, like 24-year-old Iliana Pech Cruz, who has lived in the U.S. almost her entire life.

She was just four months old when her parents brought her to the country from Mexico, but her freedom to stay hangs on a single federal programme - and its future is threatened.

DACA, or the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals scheme, grants the temporary ability to live and work in the U.S. to ‘Dreamers’, those who came to the country undocumented as children.

“Back then, the border between Mexico and the U.S. was not as strict,” she said. “We moved into just a standard two-bedroom apartment. It wasn’t the best of neighbourhoods, but it wasn’t the worst.”

Growing up, Ms Cruz said she felt like she belonged, lucky enough to speak the language and fit in. But at the age of 16, when she discovered her undocumented status, her sense of identity began to shift.

As she began to plan for university, her parents told her that she wouldn’t be able to pursue any higher education - a reality that Ms Cruz was forced to accept before DACA was implemented.

“I couldn't have the same opportunities and the same essential wants or needs or dreams as my peers and as my friends because of my status,” she said. “I felt like I wasn't living in a welcoming world anymore, and I had to understand that.”

When former President Barack Obama introduced DACA, Ms Cruz was able to study at university, get a driving license and apply for a job.

“I felt that someone believed in me. I felt that I was given a chance to really make something of myself and prove those stereotypes and those preconceptions wrong,” she said.

But DACA is a federal programme, not a robust piece of legislation - and the incoming Trump administration knew this. Just five years after the programme began, Trump announced a plan to revoke it.

While ultimately unsuccessful, the Trump administration’s attempt highlighted a key weakness of DACA. Without legislation, it’s more open to attacks by future administrations.

While there has been support within the Republican Party for a programme like DACA, Trump’s ‘zero tolerance’ approach to immigration policy doesn’t align with it.

“If Trump still runs the Republican Party and he runs again and that kind of politics is driving what the Party does, then they will try to roll back anything that Biden does because they’ll probably run against whatever Biden is doing - just like they ran against whatever Obama was doing,” said Dr Lauren Martin, an associate professor of Political Geography at Durham University.

As well as Dreamers, that could have severe consequences for immigrants more broadly. Trump’s immigration policies saw families separated, causing untold suffering, said Dr Martin.

“The idea of children being separated from their parents in a country that they don't know, where they may or may not know anybody [...] is just absolutely unfathomable.

“Essentially what the Trump administration decided to do was to turn accompanied children into unaccompanied children,” she said.

Fernando García has seen this suffering firsthand through his work for Border Network for Human Rights. Mr García founded the organisation, which advocates for immigration reform and human rights.

“What we saw was the separation of children from their mothers while in detention. That was a traumatic and harsh policy.

“Babies were taken away from their mothers. To the point that, right now, more than 500 children have not been reunited with their parents,” he said.

Such inhumane immigration policies don’t come from nowhere. Anti-immigrant and anti-Mexican sentiment in the U.S. has been swelling for decades.

Speaking of her experiences with this, Ms Cruz said: “I’ve been blatantly told that I should go back to my own country. I have been blatantly told that I don't deserve to be here, that I'm stealing jobs and I'm robbing Americans of a wealthy economy, and that I'm a criminal, I'm a felon.”

The U.S. - the country she calls home - feels as though it’s turned its back on her. She believes the same is true for many others reliant on DACA.

“I think we live in the shadows,” she said. “We are probably your neighbours, we work with you, we go to school with you, and we still feel very much alienated from a country that does not want us to excel.

“We generate tons of help and pour into this economy that does not support us and will never support us. And so, it's very much alienation.”

The Biden administration has pledged to protect Dreamers and expand their freedoms, even stating that they should be granted a “roadmap to citizenship”.

In March, the House of Representatives passed the American Dream and Promise Act of 2021, paving the way for ‘Dreamers’ to gain citizenship. But it’s unlikely to see a smooth journey through the Senate, and could be stalled.

Dr Martin was disappointed by some of the Obama administration’s decisions on immigration, but said she’s cautiously optimistic about Biden’s plan for immigration: “At the moment, though, it feels like all we’re doing is going back to what we had before. I’d like to see stronger commitments to more progressive policies.”

But there’s a severely limited timeframe to pass such legislative immigration reform. The 2022 midterms hold bleak predictions for the Democrats and, if Republicans take Congress, immigration policy may take a very different direction.

For Ms Cruz, losing DACA would mean being effectively forced to ‘move back’ to a country she’s never lived in.

“We, as DACA recipients, would want nothing more than to continue helping this country, although it does not support us,” she said.

View an explainer of the American Dream and Promise Act 2021 here.