DACA Entrepreneur Still at Risk of Deportation Despite Business Success
*By Bridgette Webb*
It's been a year since President Trump moved to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, commonly known as DACA. The program is still afloat, but remains on shaky ground, leaving roughly 700,000 young undocumented immigrants in limbo.
It's an issue that weighs heavy on "Dreamer" Victor Santos, a CEO and co-Founder of Boston-based start-up Airfox.
"Since the Trump administration, it's not quite clear on what will come of DACA in the next few years," Santos said Monday in an interview on Cheddar.
DACA allows certain individuals who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children to receive permits to avoid deportation on a two-year, renewable basis and eventually become eligible for a work permit.
Reneging on this policy ultimately precludes these people from contributing to the economy, which could have a big effect on the country, Santos said.
"As an entrepreneur, having Trump cancel the start-up visa and making it harder and harder for H-1B entrepreneurs \[to come\] into the U.S., it's been an impactful experience for myself, but also for engineers that we bring on from other countries," he said.
"DACA is creating billions in terms of output for the economy, these kids are doctors and entrepreneurs; they are people that considers themselves American."
Airfox, a mobile bank, has 20 employees and provides financial services for emerging industries like mobile microloans to "unbanked" users in Brazil, where interest rates chart upwards of 200 percent.
The immigration debate will inevitably rage on, and may very well head to the U.S. Supreme Court. In Texas, there was a surprise ruling in which a judge kept the DACA program in place, a decision that may undergo federal scrutiny.
The future is further in question as the U.S. awaits confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court.
The conservative judge, who faced four days of Senate hearings last week, will most likely vote with right-leaning colleagues to squash DACA.
The confirmation process, Santos said, is detracting from the real-life ramifications of killing the program.
"This whole thing is purely political and quite frankly, racist, to say the least," he said.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/daca-uncertainty-leaves-dreamers-in-limbo).
The Super Bowl is just 48 hours away and things are definitely heating up in the social media space, especially on Twitter. Fans across the country are quickly engaging in color commentary as they call it, and actively sharing their views on who's expected to take the big win, which players they are looking forward to seeing. Senior Sports Partner Manager at Twitter, David Herman, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Director and producer Ivan Reitman passed away over the weekend at the age of 75. The filmmaker was the mastermind behind some of America's favorite films such as "Ghostbusters". Reitman’s family released a statement explaining how they are comforted by the lives he has touched through his films.
The 21st Annual Food Network and Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival (SOBEWFF), is returning to Miami on February 24 with proceeds to benefit the future leaders of the hospitality industry. Lee Schrager, the founder and director of the festival, and Food Network star Jeff Mauro joined Cheddar News to discuss what ticket holders can expect, how the festival benefits students, and how Mauro will be paying tribute to fellow food celebrity, Guy Fieri, by hosting a charity auction dinner. "I mean there's nobody bigger, nobody more magnetic right now in the food space than Guy," Maura said. "I mean the guy had a Super Bowl commercial on last night. That's a dream of mine, so I'm one step closer there just by doing a tight 20 minutes at his tribute dinner."
Jeff Softley, direct to consumer president at Experian, joins Cheddar News to discuss what it means to be credit invisible, how big of an issue this is in the U.S., and what resources are out there to bridge this gap.
Sēkr, a mobile app that aims to improve and digitize the outdoor travel experience, announced this week that it raised a $2.25 million seed round. In the Sēkr app, users can get access to more than 50,000 campsites throughout the U.S. including the nation's largest database of free campsites. The company is saying it is on a mission to make every step of the planning experience for outdoor travel easier, safer, and more social. Breanne Acio, co-founder and CEO of Sēkr, and Jess Shisler, co-founder and COO, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
