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Dreamers are voicing their disappointment with Nicky Jam after the reggaeton singer endorsed former President Donald Trump final week.
The endorsement Friday didn’t sit nicely with Dreamers like Adrian Escárate, who was featured in a 2018 video Jam did in collaboration with Spotify to help DACA recipients preventing again towards the actions of the Trump administration.
As president in 2017, Trump rescinded DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allowed eligible undocumented younger adults who got here to the U.S. as youngsters to work and research with out concern of deportation. The Supreme Court docket blocked his move.
Escárate mentioned Saturday on X that he shared with Jam the fears that overcame 1000’s of Dreamers like himself after Trump acted to remove their immigration protections. “Quick ahead to now the place it appears Nicky Jam used me to advertise his music + sellout our neighborhood. Thanks for nothing,” mentioned Escárate, a senior media strategist on the Nationwide Immigration Regulation Heart.
Within the 2018 video, Jam spoke with Escárate and two different Dreamers concerning the stakes of shedding DACA. “Once I heard the primary issues that got here out of Trump’s mouth, I mentioned, ‘Oh, my God, this sounds ugly,'” Jam informed them. “It is clearly a racist scenario.”
Juan Escalante, a former DACA recipient who continues to advocate for Dreamers, pointed out Jam’s shifting stances on X, saying, “Nicky Jam’s hypocrisy has no limits.”
Two publicists for Jam didn’t reply to emails requesting remark Monday.
On Friday evening, Jam briefly joined Trump onstage at a rally in Las Vegas. The looks grew to become the supply of numerous memes and jokes on social media after Trump mistakenly launched Jam as a girl and appeared stunned to search out out he’s a person. Even Jam himself poked enjoyable on the incident in a now-deleted Instagram publish selling his look.
However peppered in between had been the messages of disillusioned fans who questioned Jam over his earlier remarks supporting Dreamers and the DACA program.
On the rally, Trump mentioned: “Latin music celebrity Nicky Jam, are you aware Nicky? She’s sizzling. The place’s Nicky?” As Trump appeared offstage to search out Jam, a tall man carrying all black, daring eyeglasses, a shiny chain necklace and a crimson “Make America Nice Once more” cap got here to greet him onstage. As soon as Jam was on the podium, Trump corrected his mistake, saying, “Oh, look, I’m glad he got here up.”
Regardless of the mishap, Jam gushed over assembly Trump onstage.
“It’s an honor to fulfill you, Mr. President. Folks that come from the place I come from, they don’t meet the president,” mentioned Jam, who’s half Puerto Rican and half Dominican. “So I’m fortunate.”
He then switched to Spanish to handle Trump supporters within the crowd, saying: “It has been 4 years and nothing has occurred. We’d like Trump. Let’s make America nice once more.”
The remarks led the acclaimed Mexican rock band Maná to take down its tune “De Pies a Cabeza,” a collaboration with Jam, from music streaming companies. Members of the band have been longtime critics of Trump.
Members mentioned they “don’t work with racists” in an announcement in Spanish on Sunday. “For the previous 30 years, Maná has supported and defended the rights of Latinos world wide. There isn’t any enterprise or promotion that’s value greater than the dignity of our individuals.”
Astrid Silva, a DACA recipient and an immigration activist who co-founded the nonprofit group Dream Big Nevada, responded on X to Jam’s Trump endorsement.
“Individuals are free to help who they need, everybody else can be free to proceed questioning them,” she mentioned.
Silva also wondered whether or not Jam and other reggaeton singers who have recently endorsed Trump are unaware that the fate of the DACA program is still uncertain as a seven-year court docket battle play outs following authorized challenges from the Trump administration and 9 Republican-led states in search of to terminate DACA.
DACA’s unsure future
Although Trump wasn’t in a position to finish DACA after the Supreme Court docket dominated it might stay in place, lawsuits from Republican states have restricted it.
A federal decide in Texas overseeing the authorized battle has dominated DACA unlawful a number of occasions over the previous a number of years however has avoided absolutely terminating it.
Underneath his most recent ruling issued last September, solely present DACA recipients or these whose DACA statuses expired lower than a 12 months in the past can continue to renew them each two years. However DACA stays closed for brand new candidates.
Roughly 580,000 current recipients can proceed to resume their DACA statuses. However since DACA was closed for brand new candidates, an estimated 400,000 people who would have been eligible have been shut out of it, together with nearly 93,000 first-time candidates who have been left in limbo for the previous three years after having filed the required paperwork.
Supporters have lengthy mentioned DACA is one of the most successful policies for immigrant integration.
The common DACA recipient is a younger grownup in his or her 30s, Bruna Sollod, senior communications and political director with United We Dream, mentioned on the information briefing. Most DACA recipients have lived within the U.S. for greater than 16 years.
“Practically half of DACA recipients are actually married, and 50% of them have a toddler,” Sollod mentioned. “DACA isn’t just concerning the DACA recipients; it is concerning the ripple impact that may be precipitated if this system had been to finish.”
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