This story has been translated and edited from its original Spanish version.

Norma Ramirez, a DREAMer from Las Vegas, is one of six young people whose lawsuit against the Trump administration’s cancellation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) saw an early victory in court this week.

The group of young people filed the complaint on Sept. 18 in federal court in San Francisco, alleging that when DACA was announced, the government promised DREAMers that immigration authorities would not use their personal information against them. They now fear that their data, as well as their relatives’ information, could be used for deportation purposes.

"The decision to terminate the DACA program is a broken promise and an unprecedented breach of the constitutional rights of the plaintiffs and other young people who trusted that the federal government would honor that promise," said the complaint.

A federal district court judge ruled on Tuesday in favor of them and plaintiffs in three other similar suits. While the ruling calls on the government to resume renewals of DACA work permits, it’s not the end of the road — the Trump administration is expected to appeal the decision.

The Nevada Independent in Spanish spoke on the phone this fall with Ramirez, who was brought to the United States from her native Mexico when she was five years old, and who is currently studying to earn a doctorate in psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary in California.

Here’s her story:

Q: How and when did you realize you were undocumented?

A: I really always had the notion that I didn’t have any "papers," because that is how we say it, right? Papers. But I never understood what that meant. As far as I was concerned everything was still the same. I didn't know; I went to school and well, I was five years old.

But when I started applying for college or when my friends were applying for a job or a driver’s license, I couldn’t get any of that. That was when I realized what not having papers meant.

Q: What was your reaction?

A: It was something that hurt me a lot. As far as I knew, as I was growing up everything was normal. It was the same thing they would ask others: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" And that would give us hope, so we could dream about what we wanted to be, then all that disappeared from one day to the next.

I didn't know what to do. I searched in school for information to see if I could study, because I had been told that after high school I wasn’t going to be able to go to college. There wasn’t a lot of information available.

I had to search different places to understand that I could go to school. I was told that if I would go to a public college I could do this, but if it was a private one, I wouldn’t be able to do this. Another thing is that I could attend college, but I wasn’t going to have financial aid.

This happened in 2007. I wanted to go to schools such as Harvard or Yale, but since I was told I couldn’t go to private schools, then, it was like, "I can't go." I also thought about NYU, but it was going to be very far from home and expensive.

That was then when I learned about CSN High School, which is a program that allows you to take high school and college classes at the same time.

Q: How did you decide what you wanted to study?

A: I always wanted to help people. I had different ideas. I wanted to be a doctor, a teacher, a lawyer, but in the end, what struck me the most was psychology. I have my bachelor’s in psychology, and I just got my master’s in psychology. Right now I’m studying for my doctorate in psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.

Q: When and how did you apply for DACA?

A: It was in 2012, when Obama made the announcement. The pastor at my church sent me a text message and told me: "Look what just happened." I was able to apply like a month later. I got in touch with Hermandad Mexicana Transnacional.  

I started to learn how to do the process. I filled out my own application and then, along with other volunteers, helped to fill others’ applications, because there was a long line of people when the announcement was made.

Q: What does Las Vegas mean to you?

A: It’s the closest to what we call home. I can't say that Mexico is my home, because I don't remember any of it. If one day I go over there, I will be lost if I don’t have any help.

Q: When someone mentions "DACA," what does that mean to you?

A: It was like the opportunity to be a person. Before having DACA, you wouldn’t tell anyone you didn’t have any papers. We didn’t even have even an ID. If you think about the meaning, it’s about having an identity. You could become a person.

DACA helped me to continue to grow. It’s an achievement. I had never had the opportunity to work and drive, so it helped me to have all these responsibilities as others have.

When I was able to work, since I didn’t have financial aid from the government, everything that I was earning, I would save it and it was to pay for my school. That’s how I was able to graduate from UNLV.

Q: How did you receive the news about the cancellation of DACA?

A: There were already rumors that it was going to end. So I was trying to prepare myself mentally and emotionally to receive the news. Even if I would have had a plan about how I was going to organize my life to be able to continue studying, it’s something that’s very heavy emotionally anyway.

I‘m by myself over here. My parents are still in Las Vegas. I’m in a very rigorous program, it’s a doctorate. Without DACA, opportunities that others have would shut down for me. If I have to go to a conference because of school, I wouldn’t be able to go. I wouldn’t be able to leave the United States.

My professional world would become very narrow. In addition to this, I would have to make a much bigger effort than others in my class.

Q: You are one of six DREAMers involved in a lawsuit against the Trump administration. Why are you suing?

A: Supposedly they have six months to offer a response to DACA, like a Dream Act or something similar, but there are also many messages from the administration that are contradictory. For instance, that they want us here and that they don’t want us here. In Congress they have to agree on what they’re trying to… whatever bill they have to come with, and if that doesn't happen, then that’s going to cause harm to us.

The best thing that can happen is that they will pass something like the Dream Act without increasing the immigration enforcement, like deportation policies and such, because it’s like saying: "We are going to save you, but we are going to go look for your relatives.”

What I hope for is that an actual Dream Act passes, like that’s the big hook, but if it doesn’t happen, then at least we still have DACA.

Q: It is a lawsuit against the government. Where did you get the courage to take such a historical sort of a step?

A: I know what a work permit has done for me. I know how I have centered my life around it. And my friends who have done it, and my community — I’ve seen … [what we’ve done with] the ability to work and to have a driver’s license and to travel even within the U.S. and sometimes abroad through advanced parole. And from one day to the next, for it to just go away.

Our whole lives are around that, you know? And so part of it is that we could at least keep what we have, but on the other hand, it’s sending a message of hope to everyone else to let them know that people are fighting for ourselves, you know?

Because part of this is psychological. When you don’t know what’s gonna happen to your future, and it just gets dark, I’m hoping that it can give hope to people so that they can keep being courageous in their own life and to keep going.

Q: As a part of this lawsuit, do you have any fears in general about this situation?

A: Actually, I've always been afraid. With or without the lawsuit, I've always been afraid. This was also one of the reasons why I said yes, because I said: "If I'm going to be afraid without being involved in this, well this fear won’t change things much."

I'm afraid to drive. I have my license, I have a work permit, but I'm still afraid if I see a police officer, and I've done nothing wrong. So the fear is always there.

Q: And in spite of everything that has happened to you referring to the cancellation of DACA, have you stopped dreaming?

A:  Well, I really don't use the word “dreaming,” because I like to have clearer metaphors. I say I have a vision.

Q: What is that vision?

A: I would like to open a multidisciplinary therapy office for the Latino community because we don’t have any services. And also I want it to be free. I want to be reachable by the community.