When President Donald Trump announced the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood  Arrivals program, which protected 800,000 immigrants from  being deported, I finally understood the words Michelle Obama once said.

She said that being president doesn’t change the person you are, but it reveals the true person inside of you.

Trump prides himself for having a great heart, for having children who love him and for being “the least racist person” you’ve ever met. But the reality is that being president is revealing his hypocrisy against minorities in the United States. 

Days before the announcement to end DACA, Trump said to the media, “I have a great heart for these folks we’re talking about. A great love for them, and people think in terms of children, but they’re really young adults. I have a love for these people and hopefully, now Congress will be able to help them and do it properly.”

Where did his love for these people go?

Trump’s hypocrisy was shown when he couldn’t even make the statement to end DACA himself. He sent his Attorney General Jeff Sessions to do the dirty work. Even when he turns his back on the American people, he doesn’t have the guts to say it in front of the cameras.

When Trump decided to run for office, he said Mexicans were rapists and that they were bringing drugs to the United States. He has attacked women, the Black Lives Matter movement, news outlets and Muslims, among others who don’t agree with his views. Everyone has been attacked except white people who support the ideas he wants to enforce on the American people. Getting rid of DACA is another attempt to “make America white again.”

Ending DACA is the worst decision Trump has made since taking office. He’s crushing the dreams of thousands of young people, who love the country in which they live in.

These young people are not criminals, they did not enter the country illegally; they were brought by their parents, who came in search of a better life, in search of the American dream. Today, these young Americans are the result of that dream. They work, go to college, own businesses, pay taxes and respect the law.

These young people are not a threat to the American people, as they have to show an almost spotless criminal record to be eligible for a DACA permit, which they have to renew every two years. They are not stealing the jobs of Americans, and anyone who argues this would have to look at the wage difference between whites and the rest of the U.S. population.

It makes no sense to deport thousands of people, who in many instances don’t even speak the language from their native country and know little about the country they were born in.

The could-be deportations of all DACA recipients could cause many problems in Mexico and countries in Central America, as the job opportunities are not enough for the current populations of those countries.

Deporting everyone under DACA would have a negative effect in each state of the country as well. According to the Center for American Progress, the deportation of all DACA workers would reduce the country’s gross domestic product by $433 billion in the next 10 years.

Who would take all these jobs right after all DACA recipients are deported? Business owners would lose money and people looking to buy a product or service wouldn’t be able to get what they’re looking for. Everyone would end up losing if these young Americans were to be deported.

I’ve talked with DREAMers who live in El Paso and who have been protesting against the removal of DACA. These are students who are one or two semesters away from graduating, they are students who are looking for internships and job opportunities. They are among the millennials who are looking to make a positive difference in the El Paso area.

Aren’t these the immigrants that every country in the world would want?

I speak as the son of two parents who were born in Mexico and who were not able to receive a college education. I’ve seen and experienced the hard work that my dad has done every day to provide us with food and a place to sleep. He came to El Paso and earned the right to be respected and the right to stay in the U.S. Today, everything that I have and accomplished is thanks to my father’s decision to leave his country, friends, family and culture.

At the end of the day, this reality we’re living in is our fault. We were told to vote and to encourage others to vote, but we kept taking Trump and his supporters as a joke.

We are guilty for the rise of injustices against minorities, we said and continue to say that we won’t tolerate racism and injustice, but many of the people who today protest the president’s decisions are the same people who couldn’t make the time to vote last November.