TX and National Child Health Experts File Amicus Brief in Supreme Court Describing Traumatic Impact of DACA Rescission on Recipients’ Children

The Children’s Defense Fund of Texas and the Texas Pediatric Society have just put out this press release that makes a strong case against cancelling DACA.  Reach out to whoever represents you to let them know just how traumatic ending DACA will be to recipients' children.  -Angela

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 7, 2019

Contact: Lynn Tramonte (latramonte@gmail.com/202-255-0551) OR Tom Salyers (tsalyers@clasp.org/202-906-8002)

TX and National Child Health Experts File Amicus Brief in Supreme Court Describing Traumatic Impact of DACA Rescission on Recipients’ Children 

Cancelling DACA would harm 250,000 children in U.S.,

including 46,700 in Texas

Washington, DC - At least a quarter of a million young children—including 46,700 in Texas—would be harmed developmentally, psychologically, and economically by the cancellation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). The Trump administration failed to consider their interests when repealing the program in 2017.

On Friday, Children’s Defense Fund, TX and Texas Pediatric Society joined nearly three dozen other organizations and leaders in filing an amicus brief (appendix here) with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the court to consider the impact of rescinding DACA on beneficiaries’ children, who are U.S. citizens. Oral arguments are scheduled for November 12, 2019.

The DACA case affects children and families in every state, but Texas is home to one of the largest numbers. More quotes from national and state leaders can be found here.

As the brief explains, society has a moral imperative to protect children from harm; this imperative is recognized in numerous laws and policies, including the Family First Prevention Services Act of 2018. Failing to consider the needs of these children puts their futures in jeopardy, to the obvious detriment of the communities in which they live. 

The “friend of the court” brief states: “The imminent threat of losing DACA protection places children at risk of losing parental nurturance, as well losing income, food security, housing, access to health care, educational opportunities, and the sense of safety and security that is the foundation of healthy child development.”

Patrick Bresette, Executive Director of Children's Defense Fund - Texas, said: "As an organization dedicated to the health and wellbeing of all children in Texas, we are alarmed at the devastating harm that rescinding DACA would cause. We work every day to help families connect their children to affordable health coverage and many of those families include DACA parents. In communities across our state nearly 50,000 children are in such households. We should be doing everything we can to support and protect these young families, not threatening their futures."

In the amicus brief, Texas Pediatric Society wrote: “TPS agrees with the AAP that the future prosperity and well-being of the United States depends on the health and vitality of all of its children, without exception. TPS has consistently and firmly stated that children who are citizens should not be subjected to the separation, or fear of separation from non-citizen parents or their caregivers.”

The brief was co-authored by Persyn Law & Policy and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP for the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Center for Law and Social Policy, and other children’s advocacy organizations, medical professionals, and child development experts.

Kyle Yasuda, MD, FAAP and President of the American Academy of Pediatrics said: “Rescinding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy would have multi-generational health consequences; it not only impacts the DACA recipients themselves, but also their children. When children live in fear of their family being separated, it can have detrimental effects on their health and development, both in the short- and long-term. As pediatricians, we know children fare best when they can grow up in supportive families and thrive.”

Olivia Golden, Executive Director of the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), said: "CLASP recognizes the critical role the DACA program has played in pulling entire families out of poverty and promoting the healthy development of children. We also know from our 2018 research report that harmful immigration policies—like the Administration’s decision to terminate the DACA program—are subjecting young children to fear, instability, and reduced access to critical health and nutrition supports. We urge the Supreme Court to consider what’s at stake for hundreds of thousands of our youngest citizens and the future of our country should the DACA program be rescinded."

"The American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children gratefully joins many of this nation's leading child advocacy organizations in opposing the needless termination of DACA, a critically important protection afforded to persons who arrived in the United States as children and have made lives and families here in the only home they know. The trauma that is being inflicted on the children of DACA recipients by even the threat of their parents' deportation is cruel and serves no meaningful public policy purpose. Over time, these children and the communities in which they live will suffer greatly from this pointless infliction of harm,” stated David Corwin, President of the APSAC Board; Janet Rosenzweig, Executive Director; and Frank Vandervort, Chair of the Amicus Committee.

Read the amicus brief filed in United States Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California; Donald J. Trump, President of the United States v. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; and Kirsten M. Nielsen, Secretary of Homeland Security v. Martin Jonathan Batalla Vidal[consolidated cases] here, with appendix.

Additional data about the economic contributions and family ties of DACA beneficiaries in Texas can be found here.

Glad to see Erica L. Green of the New York Times provide coverage on DACA teachers whose future is in limbo and fraught with fear and uncertainty.  One of them, Karen Reyes, teaches deaf toddlers in Austin, Texas.

Ending DACA will impact close to 9,000 teachers and countless numbers of children whose lives they touch and to whom we are simply indebted for their wonderful contributions in our nation's classrooms.  

If a path to citizenship for DACA recipients does not happen—and we certainly hope that this is what will actually occur—we will look back on this chapter in our national history as one of the more shameful, oppressive ones.

-Angela Valenzuela

With DACA in Limbo, Teachers Protected by the Program Gird for the Worst

By ERICA L. GREENFEB. 1, 2018 

Karen Reyes spends her days teaching a group of deaf toddlers at Lucy Read Pre-Kindergarten School in Austin, Tex., how to understand a world they cannot hear.

For the first time in her four-year teaching career, Ms. Reyes, 29, is at a loss. One of nearly 9,000 educators protected under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, Ms. Reyes has struggled to explain to her students, through sign language and pictures, the uncertainty of her future.

When President Trump rescinded the program in September, he gave Congress until early March to find a replacement before deportations are set to begin for the hundreds of thousands of young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children who gave their names to the government and were granted work permits. Ms. Reyes’s teaching days may be numbered — to 119 to be exact.

“I don’t know what I’m going to tell them,” Ms. Reyes said through tears. “They understand when I go on an airplane. Maybe they’ll just think I’m on a never-ending flight.”

Educators played a crucial role in helping young unauthorized immigrants realize DACA’s potential. The National Education Association, for instance, held clinics at which it encouraged eligible families to apply for the program, and worked with school districts to declare themselves “safe zones” for undocumented students and their families.

Much to the chagrin of educators and advocates, the program, created in 2012 by President Barack Obama, has become a bargaining chip for the White House. Mr. Trump has conditioned its codification in law on Democratic acceptance of tough demands, including an end to decades of family-based migration policies, a wall on the Mexican border and a crackdown on other immigrants in the country illegally.

“Every day, educators are being told to forget about the fact that at any given moment the rug will be pulled out of your lives and you may lose your job,” said Lily Eskelsen García, the president of the N.E.A., the nation’s largest labor union. “To see them treated in this despicable way, to see them treated as pawns, is just not fair.”

Mr. Trump recently said he supported a path to citizenship for DACA recipients who “do a great job,” a commitment he reiterated in his State of the Union address, which was attended by several DACA recipients — including Ivonne Orozco, who was recently named New Mexico’s Teacher of the Year.

Ms. Reyes resents that she has to prove her worth, beyond her use of her newfound freedom to teach in America’s classrooms.

“There’s so much pressure to be a perfect immigrant,” Ms. Reyes said. “They basically want us to save babies from burning buildings, have a 5.0 GPA and become doctors. But I’m just teaching these tiny humans to be great Americans.”

Ms. Reyes was brought to the United States from Monterrey, Mexico, by her mother at age 2. When she thinks of home, she thinks of the only one she can remember, in San Antonio — a big city with a small-town feel, where she and her grandmother would pick pecans from a tree in the front yard. Her childhood was “all-American,” she said, recalling late afternoons at marching band practice, at the Y.M.C.A. or selling Girl Scout cookies.

The only thing that distinguished her life from those of her friends was that she spoke Spanish at home, and her mother was strict. When she was 14, she found out why.

Her friends wanted to take a shopping trip to South Padre Island, then Laredo, on the Texas border with Mexico, but her mother forbade her from going because if she came upon an immigration checkpoint, she would not have the paperwork to pass.

“It changes the trajectory of your life,” Ms. Reyes said.

The barriers of being undocumented became more apparent after that — especially in applying to college. But with teachers’ help, she secured private scholarships for a graduate school program for special education teachers who wanted to teach the hearing-impaired.

She received her master’s degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio, and now educates six hearing-impaired 3- and 4-year-olds.

“It’s like a game of charades in my classroom everyday, but we have a lot of fun,” Ms. Reyes said. “We’re on a journey together.”

Hugo Arreola, who received DACA protection in 2012, is grappling with guilt.

Mr. Arreola works at the Phoenix high school from which he graduated, with 200 DACA recipients, many of whom he persuaded to apply for the program.

“Now, it’s basically putting their trust in the government to not abuse what started as an opportunity, to make deportation lists,” he said. “It’s a lot of anxiety and fear, and questions.”

Vicente Rodriguez, an aspiring English teacher, is preparing for the worst. Timing has not been kind to his journey. He was the only one of his mother’s five children born in Mexico, because a family emergency took her back home for a few months. His DACA permit will expire before he can complete his master’s program in teaching.

He said if he is forced to leave, he will still try to teach.

“I’m educated, so I can go anywhere in the world, but I wanted to be here,” he said. “I wanted to give back — to be that one good teacher a child remembers — in the country that gave me this opportunity.”

Across the country, teachers have grappled with the immigration debate’s aftershocks. They deal with crying colleagues, students acting out after a family member is deported and trembling when classmates talk about the past night’s news, and parents skipping teacher conferences and school events.

Ms. García, the N.E.A. president, blamed Mr. Trump.

“It started at the beginning of this administration, where for the first time in history children cried over who got elected president because of the toxic campaign around immigrants,” she said. “Now, there are crying teachers.”

Educators for Excellence, a teacher-led advocacy group, has helped lead grass-roots efforts to urge Congress to codify DACA, circulating petitions and writing a letter to the president outlining the effects his policies have had on their students.

And teachers have turned their classrooms into safe havens for undocumented students and families.

“We all know we can’t focus on multiplication tables right now,” said Jessica Cuellar, a member of the organization’s DACA team and an assistant principal at a California charter school. “We’re just listening to them and trying to make them feel safe.”

Carlos Rodriguez, an eighth-grade teacher in Chicago, has used his experience to teach his students lessons of survival.

He remembers coming to the United States at age 7 with his sister and a dozen other people, traveling through cities and towns, past wire fences and a huge river. He remembers the “flying monster in the air” that he later learned was a helicopter, and the dark place whose door would not open, which he later learned was a train.

“We educators, we are in the trenches,” Mr. Rodriguez said. “We see these young people on a daily basis. We see the potential that we can maximize to benefit a country that they call their country. What are we waiting for?”

A version of this article appears in print on February 2, 2018, on Page A14 of the New York edition with the headline: Protected For Now, Teachers Await Fate. 

URGENT REQUEST: Call Congress at (478) 488-8059 and Call for a Clean DREAM Act

Friends,

This is an urgent request.  Join me today in calling this number to demand support (478) 488-8059 for a Clean DREAM Act. 

Our young people, our daughter, Luz Valenzuela Zamora, included, are currently in Washington, D.C. with United We Dream staging hourly protests.  She, and all of our youth there, are a source of pride like no other for those of us who have labored and struggled for freedom and justice for all throughout our lives.  

You can in fact dial (478) 488-8059 multiple times as the number cycles through offices.  In addition to our own Senators here in Texas Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, I've already placed 6 calls since yesterday and got a chance to connect each time with a different member of Congress with this same number.  Simply call and urge them to pass a clean DREAM Act and tell them how important it is to you.  You can and should also call your own specific Congressional members.  Go to this link to get their names and contact info.

Everyday that Congress fails to pass the DREAM Act, 122 young people lose their DACA status and run the risk of deportation.  C'mon everybody.  These young people are already exemplary, law-abiding individuals who want nothing more than to stay in a country they already call their home.  

You must know that without DACA our country could lose a whopping 20,000 teachers currently working as teachers in our nation's classrooms (see U.S. could lose an estimated 20,000 teachers, many bilingual, as DACA is phased out).

As you can read from this story, several are already in dire straits after having gotten arrested outside of the offices of Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer and New York and Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo.  They are not provding them their names and they are on a hunger strike.

You can keep up with the movement at this link:  United We Dream 

-Angela Valenzuela

#NoDreamNoDeal #Dreamact #daca

 #CleanDREAMAct   #DreamActNow

7 Dreamers Arrested During Sit-In At Schumer And Curbelo Offices

The so-called "Dreamers" refused to provide their names and fingerprints, and all agreed to go on a hunger strike, a media rep said.

https://patch.com/district-columbia/washingtondc/7-dreamers-arrested-schumer-curbelo-offices

By Daniel Hampton, Patch Staff | Dec 17, 2017 5:08 pm ET | Updated Dec 18, 2017 11:54 am ET

22

WASHINGTON, DC —Seven so-called "Dreamers" as well as one of their allies were arrested during a sit-in Friday at the Washington, D.C., offices of Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York and Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo of Florida, according to a media representative from an advocacy organization. And now they're going on a hunger strike and facing possible deportation.
A Facebook post on behalf of Erika Andiola said she was among those arrested, and said they plan to remain jailed until Schumer and Curbelo publicly confirm they have enough votes to block any spending bill that doesn't come with a "clean Dream Act."
President Donald Trump eliminated the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, in September, cutting off all new applications and providing a six-month window for renewal applications from recipients whose permits were set to expire between Sept. 5, 2017 and March 5, 2018.
"DACA recipients are demanding that Members of Congress block any spending bill that does not include a clean DREAM Act," according to the advocacy group Fight For Our Dream.
In a video of the sit-in at Schumer's office, one man said Schumer has a responsibility to listen to his constituents and demands Schumer support a clean Dream Act.
"As Minority Leader, he has the capacity to gather all the democrats to stand up for the community that he says he supports so much," the unidentified man said. "As a Dreamer and a New Yorker, I am here making that demand. And I will not leave until he listens to what we're saying."
Andiola, who describes herself as a native of Durango, Mexico, on the organization's website, and the others will remain held in police custody until at least Tuesday morning, her Facebook post said. Candice Fortin, a media representative for the group, said the arrestees refused to give their names and fingerprints. There was an arraignment Saturday, she said, and none are cooperating.
"Right now they are refusing to give their names and fingerprints," she said. "It's basically acting as a jail strike."
They're scheduled to appear Tuesday for a trial before a jury, Fortin told Patch.
"They also are all in agreement to do a hunger strike," Fortin said. "They refuse to eat."
Andiola's Facebook post said they had been brought before a judge and the government asked to hold them in response to their noncooperation. Attorneys for the seven did not oppose the hold, in accordance with their clients' wishes. They believe U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, was contacted regarding Andiola.
A message left with ICE wasn't immediately returned.
"Every day they are in police custody the danger of additional ICE engagement and then deportation grows, as it grows for all undocumented youth with each day that goes by without passage of the Dream Act," the Facebook post said.
Andiola's profile said her family came to America to escape domestic violence.
"I am risking arrest today because there are thousands of people who are losing hope, who feel attacked and this is the time for us to model courage and to stand together because that was the only way we were able to win DACA in the first place," the website said. "That's how will we win the Dream Act now."
She said they are "undocumented and unafraid."
Curbelo represents southern Florida's 26th congressional district, which includes Monroe County and parts of Miami-Dade county. He was first elected three years ago.
Patch wasn't immediately able to reach pre-trial services, Schumer's office, Curbelo's office, or the DC Department of Corrections.
Photo credit: Candice Fortin

Ending DACA would result in a loss of $460.3 billion from the national GDP over the next decade, study shows

Forcing hundreds of thousands of individuals out of the workplace that the threat of ending DACA represents, is not only inhumane, it is in our economic self interest to not end it.  As the study cited herein by the Center for American Progress, ending DACA will send economic shockwaves through most states. 

Using data from two Center for American Progress publications—a report that estimates the gross domestic product (GDP) declines that would accompany removing all unauthorized workers from the country and a survey that estimates the share of DACA recipients who are employed—CAP estimates that ending DACA would result in a loss of $460.3 billion from the national GDP over the next decade. Ending DACA would remove an estimated 685,000 workers from the nation’s economy.

Join us tomorrow on November 9th to demand a clean #DreamActNOW 

Rally at 11:30am, Thursday, November 9, at 221 W. 6th Street, Austin, Texas

This is our home and we are here to stay!

Here is the Facebook event link:

https://www.facebook.com/events/863302093845842/

See you tomorrow, I hope!

Angela Valenzuela

A New Threat to DACA Could Cost States Billions of Dollars

By Nicole Prchal Svajlenka, Tom Jawetz, and Angie Bautista-Chavez Posted on July 21, 2017, 10:05 am

AP/Jacquelyn MartinIn this June 15, 2012 photo, undocumented immigrants who live in Maryland, hold signs saying "Thank You President Obama" in Washington, D.C.

Over the course of its five-year history, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), has changed the lives of nearly 800,000 young people who have lived in the United States since their childhood. By providing the opportunity for individuals to come forward, pass rigorous background checks, and obtain permission to live and work in the United States lawfully, DACA has helped its recipients achieve milestones typically associated with the American dream, such as pursuing higher education, earning better wages to support their families, and buying homes. Nearly 8 in 10 voters support allowing DREAMers to remain permanently in the country, including almost three-quarters of Trump voters, and only 14 percent believe they should be forced to leave.

But despite the benefits of the popular program, DACA is now facing a dangerous new attack. In late June, officials from 10 states led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued an ultimatum to the Trump administration and Attorney General Jeff Sessions: End the DACA program by September 5 or face a lawsuit in front of the same federal judge who halted a separate initiative that would have provided similar temporary protections to the parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. If DACA ends—whether because the administration accedes to the demands of DACA opponents or the initiative is enjoined by a federal court—hundreds of thousands of young people will be forced out of the workforce, upending their lives and the lives of their families, creating tremendous disruption for businesses, and sending shockwaves through the economies of most states.

According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), 787,580 people received DACA through March 2017. The data presented in this column update previous columns from November 2016 and January 2017, accounting for the additional DACA applicants that were approved since their publications.

Using data from two Center for American Progress publications—a report that estimates the gross domestic product (GDP) declines that would accompany removing all unauthorized workers from the country and a survey that estimates the share of DACA recipients who are employed—CAP estimates that ending DACA would result in a loss of $460.3 billion from the national GDP over the next decade. Ending DACA would remove an estimated 685,000 workers from the nation’s economy.

Altogether, the 10 states demanding that the Trump administration end DACA—Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, Tennessee, Texas, South Carolina, and West Virginia—stand to lose more than $8 billion annually in state GDP if they get their wish.

The present threat to those with DACA is real. Moreover, because DACA recipients are so well integrated into families, communities, schools, and workplaces throughout the country, the economic and social effects of ending DACA would be widespread and significant. In the short term, the fate of DACA rests entirely in the hands of President Donald Trump, who has at times expressed great support for DREAMers and has encouraged them to “rest easy.” But ultimately, it is Congress that must act to provide a permanent solution so that these young people can contribute even more fully to the country they call home. Yesterday’s introduction of the DREAM Act of 2017, which has bipartisan sponsorship from Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Chuck Schumer (D-NY), is an encouraging step.

Methodology

This column uses the same methodology employed in CAP’s November 2016 and January 2017 estimates of the cost of ending DACA.

The USCIS publishes quarterly data on DACA applicants and recipients since the program’s beginning in 2012. In addition to national numbers, the USCIS also provides state-level data.

An October 2016 survey of DACA recipients—conducted by political scientist Tom K. Wong, United We Dream, the National Immigration Law Center, and CAP—estimated that nationally, 87 percent of DACA recipients were employed. The survey does not provide employment rates for individual states. Thus, this column uses the 87 percent benchmark for employment levels in each state.

The number of DACA recipients working in each state is a combination of the latest USCIS data and the survey findings.

A 2016 CAP report authored by Ryan Edwards and Francesc Ortega estimated the national and state-by-state GDP loss that would result from removing unauthorized workers from the workforce, both annually and over the next decade. This column uses the GDP loss and number of unauthorized workers by each state to identify the contributions of each unauthorized worker to the state GDP. By both assuming that the skill distribution of the workforce with DACA reflects that of the broader unauthorized workforce and expressing data in 2013 dollars, this analysis reflects a conservative estimate.

The GDP losses associated with ending DACA for each state are derived by multiplying the number of employed DACA recipients with the losses associated with each unauthorized worker.

Nicole Prchal Svajlenka is a senior policy analyst for the Immigration Policy team at the Center for American Progress. Tom Jawetz is vice president for Immigration Policy at the Center. Angie Bautista-Chavez is an intern for the Immigration Policy team at the Center.

 

NILC filed a lawsuit today to stop Trump from ending DACA

Today in  a New York court, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) filed a lawsuit today to stop Trump from ending DACA. Nothing good will come out this.  Now the legal process unfolds.  Please call whoever represents you in Congress to let them know how  you feel.  Also consider listening to this recorded call among advocates on what this means for our DACA-mented community.

-Angela

For Immediate Release Contact: Nicky Vogt at 610-389-1314 ornicole@npstrateygroup.com

September 5, 2017   

 

Immigrants, Legal Experts & Advocates Condemn Trump’s Reckless Decision to Terminate DACA

A recording of today’s call is available here

Washington, DC – On a press call today, DACA-recipients, legal experts, and advocates provide immediate reaction to Trump’s cowardly, ill-advised, and reckless decision to terminate the DACA program and urged Congress to pass a clean Dream act to protect the undocumented youth. A recording of today’s event is available here.

 

Marielena Hincapié, Executive Director, National Immigration Law Center, said, “Today is a defining moment for our country and a defining moment for this presidency. President Trump's decision to terminate the DACA program effective today is nothing short of hypocrisy, cruelty, and cowardice. After telling Dreamers that he had a ‘great heart’ for them and that they could ‘rest easy,’ he hypocritically has decided to terminate the DACA program and leave the fate of the nearly 800,000 young immigrants and their families in the hands of a dysfunctional Congress. We all must act and call on Congress to swiftly enact a bipartisan solution and enact the bipartisan Dream Act. To the 800,000 young people with DACA, we thank you for your leadership and courage, and stand with you and behind you. We at the National Immigration Law Center are committed to fighting in courts and in the Halls of Congress to protect and empower you.”

 

Tom Jawetz, Vice President of Immigration Policy at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, said, “Today’s announcement to end DACA set a 6-month time bomb for hundreds of thousands of lives. The American people are sick and tired of their government being motivated to action only when faced with a crisis. We get enough of that from the periodic threats to shut down the government and refusal to raise the debt limit. We don’t need the Trump administration to manufacture new crises designed to terrorize immigrant communities. Congress must act now to take up a clean Dream Act and limit the harm that has already been done as a result of this announcement.”

 

Cristina Jimenez, Executive Director, United We Dream, said, “We are outraged by Trump’s decision to end DACA. With this move, Trump is fulfilling a sick white supremacist scheme developed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to terrorize immigrant youth and families. Trump’s plan today is cruel. Only a serial abuser would rationalize delayed violence as acting with a “big heart.” Ending DACA means mass deportation – period. DACA should remain in place until Congress passes legislation to protect immigrant youth without any racist gimmicks! We reject the idea that immigrants must endure more pain so that any group of immigrants can get some relief. Make no mistake - we will not be pushed into the shadows by these racist politicians. This is our home and we are here to stay.”

 

Andy Pincus, Partner, Mayer Brown, said, “The contention that DACA is unlawful is simply wrong.  DACA rests on long-established executive branch authority – both to defer removal and to grant work authorization – that has been invoked by prior Administrations, Republican and Democratic, for over 50 years.  The DAPA case cited by the Attorney General involved a different program and turned on different factual and legal issues.  Those differences confirm DACA’s legality.  Finally, many Administrations, including this one, have taken executive action in the face of Congress’s decision not to act, and courts routinely reject the argument that Congress’s inaction precludes executive action.” Read more from Pincus here.

 

Maria Praeli, DACA recipient, FWD.us Policy Associate, said, “Today, during an announcement that I may be deported back to a country that I haven’t seen in 20 years, the Attorney General of the United States criminalized me, vilified my community, and talked about us as if we don’t matter and if this isn’t our home.  This Administration cannot keep toying with my life and the lives of 800,000 others. We need a clean, bipartisan Dream Act immediately – my life and the lives of hundreds of thousands of others depends on it.”

 

Lorella Praeli, Director of Immigration Policy and Campaigns, American Civil Liberties Union, said, “President Trump’s cruel and heartless decision to end DACA is a manufactured crisis in reaction to an artificial deadline. So, we are not sitting here thanking him for acting with his so-called good heart, but, rather, we are reminding him and the rest of the Republican party that they created this problem. It is on them to step up and ensure that no one has a gap in their time period between a work permit and a legislative solution that creates a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers across country. We need a clean, bipartisan Dream Act, immediately. Today is a cruel day for people like Maria, my sister, and for families across the country. But, we will not despair. We will continue to move forward with the courage and the resilience that our parents taught us. We will fight for all DACA-recipients and our community across the country. To Cristina, Maria, and the other Dreamers: we’ve got your back. America is our country. It is our home, and we’re not going anywhere.”

 

Follow Frank Sharry and America’s Voice on Twitter: @FrankSharry and @AmericasVoice

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