A "Do-It-All" Dreamer: Maria Toca

Nearly 80,000 young adults in the United States are protected by DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Those with DACA lived in the U.S. illegally when they were young, and the program protects them from deportation.

The program started during the Obama administration, and the Trump administration said it would end the DACA program. October 5, was the deadline to renew DACA for current recipients, and no new applications are being accepted. Those who renewed before the deadline have two more years of protection under the program, which allows them to work legally, but it is not equivalent to citizenship.

Maria Toca, 22, a preschool teacher, and her mother Claudia Daane sit in the living room of Maria’s apartment, constantly jumping up to run after Maria’s two-year-old son, Mateo. Photo by Natalie Van Hoozer

Arrival

They chatter in Spanish, reflecting on their arrival to the United States 18 years ago. In 1999, when Maria was 4 years old, Claudia told Maria and her brother that they would be travelling from their home in Mexico City, Mexico, to the United States go to Disneyland and to see their father, who was working the U.S. for a year. The family overstayed their tourist visas, and while they were in the process to applying for citizenship, the September 11 terrorist attacks happened. All the paperwork being processed at the time was cancelled, including the paperwork for Maria, Claudia and the rest of their family.

Even though Claudia and her family lived in the U.S. undocumented, she remains firm:

“My goal was for my children to finish university here. As soon as they finished, they could decide what they wanted to do, if they wanted to return, or stay here.”

Living Undocumented

Maria didn’t really start to be afraid of her undocumented status until she was in high school. She remembers comparing herself to her friends who were American citizens:

“That's when I started to realize the difference, of what being undocumented really meant. When my friends started getting their [driver’s] license, and I couldn't get my license, those things were when I realized that, ‘Wow, I may not have the brightest future that I thought I did.’"

An inspirational sign found in Maria's house. Photo by Natalie Van Hoozer

DACA Begins

As soon as the DACA program was announced in October of 2012, Claudia made sure to take Maria and all of the needed paperwork to PLAN, the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada. The nonprofit offers immigration paperwork assistance, and with PLAN’s help, Maria was one of the first DACA recipients in Reno. She now works as a Montessori teacher for toddlers and preschoolers. Claudia has remarried, to a U.S. citizen, and is a legal U.S. resident.

Now that the DACA program has ended, Maria feels uncertain about her future, once her current DACA status expires.

She says, “I think to myself on a daily basis, ‘Should I be packing up? Should I be doing something else for my future? What am I supposed to be doing in these six months? Are they going to announce DACA's cancelled, time to go?’ It seems so unfair to me to have so many people wonder and not be sure about their future.”

Immigration Activism

Maria addresses her fellow protesters at a demonstration about DACA outside of State Congressman Amodei's office in Reno, October, 2017. Photo by Narumi Kobayashi

Toca has also worked in Reno to promote awareness about the undocumented population, working with groups like PLAN and speaking at community gatherings and protests about DACA and immigration.

The Senate

On Tuesday, December 13, Nevada State Senator Catherine Cortez Masto spoke on the Senate floor in Washington, D.C, advocating for the DREAM Act to be passed before the end of 2018. She read a letter from Toca, and added, “We are allowing a vicious cycle to grind 800,000 dreams into the dust.”

Tuesday, December 13, 2017, State Senator Catherine Cortez Masto shared Maria's DACA story in the Senate in Washington, D.C. Photo screenshot courtesy of the Facebook live feed on Sentaor Cortez Masto's Facebook page.

Maria also fights against the stereotypes that many people have about DREAMers like herself. She is most bothered when people criticize her mother, Claudia, for raising her children in the U.S. illegally.

“They say that it wasn't my fault, it was just my mom's choice and they're placing the blame on her,” she says. “To me, that's not fair whatsoever, because I'm here at 22 years old being what I consider to be pretty successful thanks to her.”

Waiting for DACA Decision

Right now, Maria and Claudia are waiting to see what the final legislative decision is for those who have DACA. Even if Maria is forced to go back to Mexico, Claudia says that she feels she had done right by her children, by fighting to get them an American education.

“If they cancel [DACA], I'll have finished what I came to do for them.”

Maria is confident that she could make a future for herself in Mexico as well.

“I know that, thanks to the strength that I've gained here, and thanks to the strength from having a mother like mine, I would make it. I would make it anywhere else with my son.”

If possible, she would like to remain in the U.S. Next semester, she plans to return to college to work toward a bachelor's degree in human development and family studies.

"I'm just trying to figure out my path in life,” she says. "I'm happy, aside from all this."

Reporting by Natalie Van Hoozer