“Once you apply, you’re basically giving all your information away,” he said. “Some people told me they weren’t going to apply until after the election.”

Deborah E. Anker, a clinical professor of law and the director of the Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program at the Law School, also noted that the upcoming election has created trepidation for some students thinking about applying for deferred action.

“They’ve surrendered to immigration service in order to get this,” Anker said. “It takes a lot of courage to come forward right now at this incredible moment in history when this country could go in two such radically different directions. But these kids have demonstrated a lot of courage.”

As an immigration policy change for the Department of Homeland Security that was announced by the President, DACA is not a law and can be discontinued by the next administration. But the prospect of a Mitt Romney victory in November has raised worries for those applying for relief under the policy, many of whom believe Romney’s immigration track record takes a particularly harsh stance on undocumented immigrants.

Romney announced on Tuesday, however, that he would not deport those that have been granted deferred action. Instead, he said that, if elected, he will enact immigration reform before the two-year program expires.

Though widely viewed by immigration rights advocates as a bigger ally to undocumented students, President Barack Obama is on track to a harsher record on illegal immigration than past Republican presidents. Obama has deported around 1.5 million immigrants in just under four years in office.

A HOPE FOR CHANGE

Despite her experience at Qdoba, Eve did not want not to apply for deferred action at first. The program, she says, fails to address the major problems undocumented students face.

“Deferred action is a joke,” she said. “It doesn’t encourage people to continue their education…. If anything, it’s encouraging kids to work, because it’s giving you a worker’s card.”

But when she found out that the program might enable her to study abroad, Eve eventually decided to apply. Widespread misinformation about the program and its benefits—positive and negative—persists, she says, and even her lawyer was misinformed about the opportunities for travel.

The real solution for students like Eve, most people interviewed for this article said, lies not in DACA but in the passage of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act—better known as the DREAM Act—and eventually, comprehensive immigration reform.

The DREAM Act, which was first proposed in Congress in 2001, would give conditional permanent residency to undocumented people who arrived in the United States before their 16th birthdays. As with DACA, to qualify for residency, undocumented persons would need to have obtained a GED, graduated from high school, be attending or have attended college, or have served in the military for at least two years.

However, unlike DACA, DREAM Act beneficiaries would receive six-year temporary residency status, which would turn permanent if the person meets sufficient criteria.

Luis said that he believes DACA was the most Obama could accomplish without approval from Congress.

“I’m hoping that it will be replaced with something much wider, more comprehensive, that takes care of more people,” he said. “I don’t want DACA to be the end.”