Immigrant Rights for DACA

 

June 15 marks the anniversary of President Obama establishing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in 2012. We had hope that between DACA and widespread support for Dreamers, we’d be able to pass legislation to protect them, but for nearly 14 years, Republicans in Congress and President Trump have blocked any meaningful help for Dreamers, leaving hundreds of thousands vulnerable to detention, deportation and separation from their families. The attack on Dreamers is nothing short of horrific. Write to your members of Congress to demand protections for Dreamers. While the Trump administration is undermining the DACA renewal process and targeting Dreamers for deportation, Republicans in Congress just approved sending over $70 billion in new funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to expand detention and deportation operations while sowing fear and instability in schools, workplaces and communities across the country. Combined with the more than $100 billion already available for immigration enforcement, this would bring total federal spending on immigration enforcement to nearly a quarter-trillion dollars—an unprecedented investment in detention, deportation and enforcement rather than solutions that keep families together and strengthen our economy. Just this past week, ICE detained two parents at a preschool graduation ceremony in Baltimore. It is an unconscionable assault on the values of safety, sanctuary and common decency that schools are meant to uphold, and it underscores how critical it is that we do all we can to protect our immigrant neighbors. Ahead of DACA’s anniversary, take action now and demand Congress provide Dreamers with the permanent protections and pathways to citizenship they deserve. In the more than a decade since DACA was established, the policy has enabled more than 825,000 young people who were brought to the United States as children to live, work and contribute to the communities in the only country many of them have called home. Dreamers are teachers, paraprofessionals, nurses, healthcare workers, university staff, public employees, students and essential workers. They help educate our children, care for our patients, strengthen our communities and keep our economy moving forward every day. But right now, so many of our friends, family and community members are experiencing delayed renewals, denials, detention and wrongful deportation. Every delay, denial, detention or wrongful deportation puts opportunity, economic security and family stability at risk. Dreamers are part of our communities, our workplaces and our families. They deserve the dignity of knowing that they can build their futures without fear of being torn away from the only home many have ever known. Write to your members of Congress and urge them to place partisan politics aside and give Dreamers a pathway to citizenship now. In unity, Randi Weingarten AFT President P.S. The AFT has resources available for members to keep themselves and their communities safe during enhanced federal immigration crackdowns, which you can find here.