TEGUCIGALPA, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Honduran-born Carlos Martinez, who lives in the southern U.S. state of Florida, said Tuesday that a White House decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) dashes hopes of people like himself who benefit from the program.
Earlier in the day, U.S. President Donald Trump announced he would gradually phase out DACA, a program that extends work permits and other rights to young Hispanics who were brought to the United States as children by their undocumented parents.
"This dashes our hopes. It is very unfair. It is a hard blow that not only affects Hondurans, but also (other) immigrants who arrived in the United States as young innocents," Martinez told Xinhua by phone.
Martinez's story is typical of the approximately 800,000 "Dreamers," as beneficiaries of the plan came to be called, who reside in the United States.
He and his father entered the United States illegally when he was just four years old. He is now 21, and has spent his entire life studying and working in southern United States.
"Many 'Dreamers' are working, studying. We made a life here and they took it away just like that. I have just renovated my permit, which expires in March of the year after next," said Martinez.
Trump said the program will be gradually phased out by basically no longer renewing the two-year permits.
The move has sparked protests in the United States, including one outside the White House, and led Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama, who created DACA in 2012, to take the unusual step of speaking out against the policy decision by the Trump administration.
"To target these people is wrong, because they have done nothing wrong," Obama posted on Facebook.
Martinez said he hopes the U.S. Congress will block the decision to abolish the program, or devise a new one to take its place.
"Right here, right now, there are many dashed hopes and protests in the streets. Many young people are demonstrating," said Martinez.
"I have already made my life. I have friends, a girlfriend, a house and suddenly everything has gotten ugly," he added.
The Honduran government said it regretted the White House decision.
Some 18,526 DACA recipients are Honduran, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
