(Image source from: Firstpost)

San Diego's young, unauthorized immigrants Wednesday returned to where they rallied one year ago when the Trump administration ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to say they are not backing down in their fight to stay in the United States.

Nearly 70 people rallied at the county administration building, to condemn the administration's move to end the program. Those present this year carried the emblems of movements that have grown in the pushback on the Trump administration's immigration policies since September 5, 2017.

San Diego Border Dreamers hosted the rally, a collective of DACA acquirers that commenced organizing to convince Congress to aid them in the wake of the DACA rescission, the demonstration featured "Abolish ICE" posters among its butterfly-themed signs.

Ali Torabi, member of San Diego Border Dreamers and a DACA recipient from Iran, said it was important to him to gather on the anniversary in order to reclaim the date as a positive moment rather than a negative one.

"They're going to regret this day because it marks in history the moment we came together," he told a cheering crowd.

A group of 12 cyclists, known as the "dream riders," finished approximately 1,700-mile bike ride between Seattle and San Diego during the rally.

Jung Woo Kim, a Korea-born DACA recipient from Los Angeles, led the ride as a campaign for "Citizenship for all."

He said, the call for equality and protection for all people, not just DACA recipients, was his group's answer to what they saw as politicians using them as bargaining chips during legislative negotiations.

President Donald Trump promised during his campaign to end the DACA program. In his initial months in office, he appeared to soften his position.

After Labor Day weekend in 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who had long said that the Obama administration's creation of the program had gone beyond the powers of the executive branch, explained to the nation on September 5 that the program would end in March.

The DACA program allowed immigrants who came to the U.S. as children to apply for renewable, two-year permits that protected them from exile and let them work. Under the Trump administration's plan, those permits would begin to expire in March, though some ended up expiring earlier because of a tighter deadline set for final renewal applications.

The Trump administration called on Congress to act before March if legislators wanted to protect DACA recipients. As Congress hesitated over the details of a possible compromise, the White House pushed to get the president's long-promised border wall in exchange for a way for so-called "dreamers" to stay in the U.S.

Although the authorities shut down early in 2018 over the issue, Congress has not passed a solution for DACA recipients.

Immigrants who have already received DACA permits are still allowed to renew them because of a series of court orders from cases filed in the aftermath of Sessions' announcement. The authorities are not accepting applications from immigrants who were not earlier enrolled in the program.

Over 800,000 immigrants who came to the U.S. as children have participated in the program, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Advocacy organizations have estimated that about 40,000 DACA-eligible immigrants live in San Diego County.

At Wednesday's rally, an immigration attorney and DACA recipient Dulce Garcia emphasized that politicians have not acted.

By Sowmya Sangam