Today I was asked this by someone I love deeply. I get this a lot. "Why don't you just apply for citizenship?" Well... I'd like to. It's not that easy. I've never had the chance to apply either, so I'm still learning too. Bear with me. First of all, I simply can't.

Yup. I cannot get citizenship, even if I wanted to. In order to get citizenship, first you have to have a green card (I don't). In order to get a green card there are only four basic ways.
1. Invest enough money into american soil.
Any guess as to how much enough money is?

If you guessed one million dollars, you'd be right. 'Enough money' is literally one million dollars. Special cases they lower it to $500,000 but that's rare. I don't have that kind of money... i don't know many people that do. But if you have enough you could literally buy an in.

2. Sponsored through work or research. in order to do that you have to be able to LEGALLY prove there is no US citizen or green card holder that can do the job better than you. It's not easy to legally prove something like that, and to get a lawyer that could, not cheap either.

Even if I could hire a lawyer to prove I'm the best at what I do, im not eligible because for this way anyway becuase you have to qualify for an immigrant work visa which I don't because... I'm already here... i have been here my entire life.

3. you can be sponsored through family but in order for someone to sponsor you they have to be a US citizen over the age of 21 and in your immediate family. Couldnt be your uncle/grandma/cousin. Nuclear family. I don't have anyone with those qualifications.

Even if I did, this way takes the longest, 10+ years to get into line for the diversity lottery and even then there is no guarantee you are pulled. And its not just called a lottery, it is literally a lottery. Names are pulled. And your odds decrease based on where you're from.

4. marriage, i could marry a US citizen. But its easier said than done to find someone to marry. On top of that, you have to met certain Financial thresholds and extreme scrutiny. They check your bank accounts to make sure they're joint, they check your social media...

They interview your friends and family. They send agents at night to make sure you're living and sleeping together. I can't just marry anyone. It has to be real otherwise I'm committing a felony. Its harder to immigrate than it ever has been and that's just to get a green card.

after eight years of having your green card THEN you can apply for citizenship. That's when you take the test. But that's after thousands upon thousands in legal fees.

DACA gives me a social security number, a work permit, and a promise that I won't get deported. That's it.

It doesn't give me legal status, and it only protects me as long as I don't commit even a misdemeanor. I don't have a choice but to be on DACA. Without it, I am simply undocumented. I could not work, drive... anything.

I was two years old when I came here. I went to the same schools you did. I said the pledge of allegiance every day and I meant it. I grew up the same way.. What makes me different from my American friends other than being born 600 miles south? I didn't choose that.

Each DACA recipient is like me. There's millions of people that should have been on it. There are less now because of Trump. Not his administration, not his senate... he alone made the decision to revoke the executive order that kept us safe. To go to med school. To do musicals.

I have been worried about DACA ever since trump revoked it in September 2017. Without it I and the people I love would be subject for deportation. He ended DACA and the courts said it had to continue and he fought and fought to end it.

Then, when the supreme court stepped in and said he couldnt end it EXACTLY how he wanted to, but with the stipend that he did have the legal authority to do so. he announced he was going to end it in a way that the supreme court could not turn down.

My friend asked has it happened yet? Yes. It has. He did. Its not an issue of would he, could he? ... he did. He'll do it again. He said so. I'm not worried about something that "may happen sometime in the future." I'm worried about something the president of the United States..

.. DID to actively remove me from the country and was stopped on a technicality and said he would do again, but better. It would start with me, not future, because there are no future daca recipients under trump. They are not accepting new recipients even though the supreme court

ordered them to continue daca as was written but Trump and Chad Wolf at DHS refused and stated they will instead destroy the program. I'm not alone. Other people with legal protections like TPS, asylum seekers and refugees are all being denied. Thrown in cages. Mutilated.

You think I want to tell people to vote for someone that voted yes on the iraq war? That created the 1994 crime bill? I don't want to tell someone that opposes medical for all, a green new deal, and other progressive policies that I truly do believe in.

Joe Biden is practically the most republican a Democrat can get. I want a more progressive candidate but instead I must choose the only one that will protect my literal home in the only country ive ever known, rather than one that is actively working to kick immigrants out.

I can't vote. I'm not a citizen. Without an administration that works to provide people like me a pathway to citizenship, it's likely I never will be.

A couple amendments, it's 5 years after a green card, not 8. Someone said "join the miltary". You need a green card to join the military, since the MAVNI program was discontinued. I can't. I tried.

I have talked to lawyers about it. This is the result