President Trump recently met with the Democratic Congressional Leaders to come up with a compromise on how to handle his stance on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

Here is what you need to know about DACA according to NPR:

• DACA is the acronym for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

• This program was created in 2012 by the Obama administration and protects the people who were brought into the United States illegally and allows them to go to school and work in the United States.

• There are about 800,000 Dreamers, those who have received help from this program, in the United States, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

• Those who are eligible had to be younger than 31 years old before 2012 and prove that they had lived in the United States since June of 2007 and  that they were brought to U.S. before the age of 16.

This act has been making headlines in the past few months after President Trump announced he wanted to end the program. What this means for Dreamers:

• As of Sept. 5, 2017, no new applications will be received.

• Those who have a work visa that expires in 2018 can apply for a two-year renewal.

• The program won’t terminate immediately but President Trump gave congress six months to legalize DACA or else they’ll shut it down.

• Things were looking up for Dreamers when President Trump met with Democratic Congressional Leaders last week to come up with a compromise on the termination of the program, but things came to a halt after no agreement on the construction of the President’s wall.

• Although no agreement was made, President Trump has showed support for Dreamers on his Twitter account, to the dismay of some Republican Congressional Leaders.

In the past decade, over 30,000 immigrants have entered the state of Iowa and we do have Dreamers here at Iowa State. This is not something that only affects states with a higher immigration rate, but the entire country.

If you or someone you know needs any form of support during these times, in his response to the announcement, Interim President Ben Allen provided multiple numbers available for students in need:

The national crisis text line: text ISU to 741-741.

Student Assistance and Outreach, Dean of Students Office: 515-294-1020

Student Counseling Service: 515-294-5056

Multicultural Student Affairs: 515-294-6338                                                  

Office of the Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion: 515-294-8840    

University Human Resources: 515-294-4800