“An invisible identity”: This undocumented young Texan faces uncertainty after DACA applications are closed

Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

A federal judge in Texas ordered the Department of Homeland Security this summer to stop approving applications for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The Obama-era initiative offers certain young adults two years of protection from deportation and a right to work.

We spoke to Alejandra, an undocumented student at the University of Texas at Austin who has tried to apply to the DACA program multiple times. She is angered by the back-and-forth politics that have restricted her from receiving a sense of security from the program. It is the policy of The Texas Tribune not to include the full name of sources who are undocumented.

Disclosure: University of Texas at Austin has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.