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In announcing Tuesday morning that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — or DACA — was to be canceled by the administration of President Donald Trump, barring congressional action to save it, Attorney General Jeff Sessions was on deportation for the 3,500 students such as Munoz-Reyes who live in Missouri under the protection of former President Barack Obama’s executive order.

There are at least 800,000 such immigrants nationally — most of them students who, like Munoz-Reyes, also have full-time jobs. Trump has put a target on their backs.

But Munoz-Reyes, who is 21, will not go quietly into the night.

“We’re not going back into the shadows,� Munoz-Reyes told me moments after she watched Sessions’ news conference on television. She skipped a class to watch it. It wasn’t so much that the news was a surprise. She’s been girding for it ever since the election of Trump.

Munoz-Reyes is going to be a nurse. She has one semester left of school at ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Community College at Forest Park before she transfers to a nursing program.

She is a dreamer, literally and figuratively. Brought to the United States by her parents when she was 8, from Tlaxcala, Mexico, Munoz-Reyes would be given a path to permanent American residency were Congress to pass the DREAM Act, first introduced by Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, in 2001. The act — like the DACA program — recognizes the humanity of children brought to the U.S. through no fault of their own, who go to school, and work, and contribute positively to the fabric of America.

Like so many other “Dreamers� in similar situations, Munoz-Reyes didn’t even know of her status as an undocumented immigrant growing up. She learned when she was about to turn 16. As she planned to get her driver’s license — she lived in University City at the time — her parents gave her the “talk.� They explained that she wasn’t a citizen, that she couldn’t get a license like all of her friends.

That didn’t hold her back.

I met Areli as she was beginning her college journey.

At the time, the Missouri Legislature was preparing to override Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of a bill that was as heartless as Sessions’ announcement on Tuesday. The bill made it illegal for Missouri colleges to honor A+ scholarships if they are earned by undocumented immigrants such as Munoz-Reyes.

The A+ program provides two years of community college tuition to Missouri students who maintain a 3.0 grade-point average, have high attendance and perform community service.

Munoz-Reyes did all those things. She tutored elementary students. She graduated from University City High School with honors.

Then the Legislature pulled the rug out from under her.

With the help of the , and her own hard work, Munoz-Reyes found the money for college. And she found her activist voice.

She has become a leader in the Dreamer movement, advocating not just for students like her who want to continue their quest for the American dream, but other undocumented immigrants who in the age of Trump have become targets for deportation.

Sessions’ speech left Munoz-Reyes full of emotions. She is angry and sad, worried and motivated.

“I’m kind of frustrated that Trump didn’t face the camera himself,� she says. Tuesday morning she started calling her fellow DACA students to check on them, and to organize.

“We have to fight back,� Munoz-Reyes says. “We’ve got six months.�

She won’t be fighting alone.

Within moments of Sessions standing in for Trump to announce that America is no longer the shining city on a hill, faith and civil rights leaders issued statements standing up for the Dreamers in our midst.

“Welcoming the stranger, the immigrant, and the refugee have been long-standing hallmarks of our American way of life and religious convictions,â€� said ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Archbishop Robert Carlson, leader of the region’s Roman Catholic Church. “The Archdiocese of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ will continue to be a place of welcome, service and mutual hospitality, especially to the suffering and most vulnerable among us.â€�

The American Civil Liberties Union announced its intention to fight on behalf of the DACA students now left out in the cold by the Trump administration. State attorneys general in New York and Washington said they would fight the administration in federal court.

And the Scholarship Foundation — which helped pay Munoz-Reyes’ tuition and that of other undocumented immigrants — urged ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ organizations to protect DACA students where the government has failed them.

“We urge our nonprofit partners, higher education institutions, and elected officials to stand loud and proud in support of those in our community affected by today’s announcement,� said Faith Sandler, executive director of the Scholarship Foundation. “More importantly, we urge them to put policy and financial resources in place to support students who have lived with discrimination, fear, and uncertainty far too long.�

For Munoz-Reyes, as heartbreaking as the day is, the time for fear, and crying, is over.

“I don’t have any more tears,� she said. “I’m tired of crying. It’s time to mobilize. It’s time to fight back.�