OPINION: Protecting undocumented immigrants and Dreamers is a queer rights issue

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09/22/2023

In 2012, an undocumented immigrant from Indonesia named Rio Djiwandana began his studies at Georgetown University. During his first semester, he enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Then President Barack Obama had just launched DACA, which temporarily prevented the deportation of immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. These young people are also known as ‘Dreamers’. During his second semester, Djiwandana came out as gay. On the face of it, these two events in Djiwandana’s life may seem unrelated. But as an attorney who has spent almost all of my career representing LGBTQ+ immigrants, I know that the intersection of immigration status, sexual orientation, and gender identity matters a great deal.

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