Barack Obama Instagram – On the 11th anniversary of DACA, I wanted to share the powerful stories of Tony, Jessica, Devashish, Josue, and Sumbul—five DACA recipients I met last year who talked to me about the impact that DACA had on their lives: Jessica Astudillo was born in Ecuador and grew up in New York. She works as a pediatric resident physician at NYU Langone Health, and took care of pediatric patients during the pandemic. Josue de Paz was born in Mexico and grew up in California. He was one of our @ObamaFoundation Scholars at Columbia University, and now runs a nonprofit that works to empower and support low-income high school students. Devashish Basnet was born in Nepal. He graduated from Hunter College and is now a Rhodes Scholar studying refugee and migration patterns. Sumbul Siddiqui was born in Saudi Arabia and grew up in Georgia. She didn’t even know she was undocumented until she reached her senior year of high school. Today marks her first day working as a family medicine resident physician at the University of Chicago. Then there’s Tony Valdovinos. Tony was born in Mexico and grew up in Arizona. He found out he was undocumented after trying to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps at 18. He went on to become the first undocumented person to work at Phoenix City Hall, and now runs a firm that helps mobilize voters in marginalized communities. These powerful stories illustrate the promise of DACA recipients and how important it is to protect them. We are a better nation—a stronger nation—because they’re here. Let’s continue to organize and push Congress to build an immigration system that offers these Americans a permanent pathway to citizenship.