Some so-called Dreamers told News 12 that they were upset that Congress approved a temporary spending bill to end the government shutdown without a deal on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.
DACA recipient Jorge Garcia, of Brentwood, said he felt "betrayed." He was one of dozens of Long Islanders in Washington, D.C. Tuesday rallying and calling on Sen. Charles Schumer to take action and stand up for them.
The high school senior says he's upset the Democratic leader didn't do more this week to secure legislation to prevent the deportation of at least 800,000 illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children.
"I've been here for 16 years now…Anyone who's been here for that long of a time and they don't have the right to be protected and not in harm's way of being deported is just absurd," said Garcia.
President Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday that "nobody knows" if a deal will be made.
Despite Monday's vote to reopen the government, sharp divisions remain. Democrats and Republicans still face a deep divide on some key issues, including the border wall. At Friday's meeting with the president, Sen. Schumer made an offer to fund the wall. However, as negotiations continued, Sen. Schumer withdrew that offer. He spoke on the Senate floor Tuesday saying, "Democrats will continue to fight hard as ever for the Dreamers, but I am more hopeful today than I was last week that we can assemble 60 votes for a DACA bill in the Senate."
Walter Barrientos, of Make the Road New York, says that's just not good enough.
"We need Sen. Schumer as the minority leader, to make a real commitment to us about what his strategy is to protect the Dreamers," he said. "He hasn't expressed why it is that he made a deal with the Republicans allowing them to move forward."