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Immigrant students tell of living in fear of deportation after DACA decision
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Diana Vela, a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipient and fourth-year student at the University of North Georgia, poses for a portrait on Friday at the UNG Student Center in Oakwood. - photo by David Barnes
The thought she could be uprooted from her family and the only place she knows as home began to weigh heavily on Diana Vela during her sophomore year at Gainesville High School in 2012. At the time, encouraged by being one of the top honor students in school and having determined she would go to college and pursue her dreams, Vela began to have doubts about her future because of the uncertainty surrounding her immigration status.