As Supreme Court takes up Trump plan to end DACA, American dreams at stake for nearly 700,000 immigrants

AUSTIN, Texas – A lawyer, a teacher, a graduate student and an undergraduate gathered in a 6th-floor courtroom one recent afternoon to discuss their common dreams and nightmares.

The dreams are of futures in the United States filled with college degrees and successful careers, home ownership and happy families.

The nightmares are of losing their college loans, driver's licenses, jobs – and the only country they can truly call home.

"It feels, in a way, very surreal," said Anayeli Marcos, 25, who hopes to graduate from the University of Texas' flagship campus here in May with dual Master's degrees in social work and Latin American studies. "Sometimes it's a bit overwhelming, feeling that your fate is in the hands of people who don't know you."

The Supreme Court will have the fate of these four DREAMers and some 660,000 others in its hands Tuesday when it considers the Trump administration's decision to end the DACA program, which has provided a reprieve for some undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children. A ruling on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is expected next spring in the midst of the 2020 presidential election.

In Austin, where Texas state officials brought the original challenge to both DACA and an ill-fated effort by President Barack Obama to extend similar protections to 4 million undocumented parents, Pedro Villalobos' job as an assistant county attorney is at risk.

The state argues in court papers that "Congress has never given the executive carte blanche to grant lawful presence to any alien it chooses not to remove, let alone benefits including work authorization, health care, unemployment, and a pathway to citizenship."