It’s Long Past Time To Protect Dreamers
Advocates say we are witnessing “an ongoing mission to delegalize millions of people by eroding the very protections they rely on, DACA included”
The Trump administration’s attacks on DACA recipients – from outrageously long renewal delays to wrongful detention and even deportation to countries they haven’t considered their home for decades – continue to mount. During the popular and successful program’s 14th anniversary this week, hundreds rallied in the nation’s capital to demand that lawmakers spare young immigrants and their families further frustration and heartache and finally deliver on long-overdue legalization.
“As part of a nationwide Day of Action hosted by the Home is Here campaign, advocates, impacted immigrants, and allies spent the morning meeting with Members of Congress,” advocates said Monday, “delivering thousands of petition signatures collected from constituents nationwide urging them to pass the Dream Act and the Dream & Promise Act.”
They later marched to the nearby Upper Senate Park to condemn the administration’s mass delegalization efforts that have targeted not only DACA recipients, but also millions of immigrant contributors that depend on long-standing programs like Temporary Protected Status, asylum, and humanitarian parole.
One speaker at the event noted how DACA changed her mom’s life in 2012. She was able to work legally, pursue higher education, purchase her own house, and more fully contribute to the country she calls home. But it’s now all at risk.
“Despite submitting her DACA renewal application on time and complying with every requirement, her DACA expires tomorrow,” she said. The family now expects her to be terminated from her job, not because of anything relating to her performance or professionalism, “but solely because her renewal remains pending due to prolonged government processing delays.”
“After years of dedication and hard work that my mom has given to this country, she’s facing the loss of her livelihood through no fault of her own,” she continued.
She’s not alone. These processing delays have stretched anywhere from several months to as long as a year, risking livelihoods and impacting fields that are already facing critical worker shortages. Essential healthcare worker Juan Chavez Velasco, for example, submitted his renewal months ahead of time. During that wait, he was abducted by mass deportation agents while attempting to deliver milk to his hospitalized infant. While he has since been released, his status expired while he was in detention.
During a floor speech on Monday, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) said that the administration has been “intentionally delaying DACA renewals so DACA recipients go unprotected.” Jaime Rangel, the regional government relations director for FWD.us, echoed the sentiments to the Nevada Current. “It’s intentional, it’s systemic,” Rangel said.
During his remarks, Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) touched on the administration’s mass delegalization campaign, saying that the entire immigrant community across the country is “under attack.” This was a point similarly raised by Juliana Macedo do Nascimento, Deputy Director of Advocacy and Campaigns for United We Dream, in her recent guest post at Charting a New Narrative on Immigration. While the first Trump administration’s initial plan to terminate DACA failed thanks to the courts, it shifted tactics “to make legal status itself more temporary, fragile, and easier to take away.”
“TPS holders have faced repeated efforts to terminate protections they have relied on for years,” Macedo do Nascimento wrote. “Humanitarian parole programs have been targeted for rollback. Asylum seekers face growing barriers to protection and outright bans. Even birthright citizenship, a constitutional guarantee that has stood for more than 150 years, has become the subject of unprecedented attacks.”
“Different communities may face different legal challenges, but the underlying message is the same: no matter how long you have lived here, how deeply rooted you are in your community, or how much you contribute, your place in this country can still be questioned,” she continued.
But the fact is that young immigrants belong here – and not just because they have called this country home for decades, have built families and homes here, help keep us healthy through their essential work, and contribute billions annually to keep our country itself moving ahead. These young people embody the American Dream that we all cherish and hold dear – and keeping that dream alive should matter to all of us.
And as Bloomberg columnist Mary Ellen Klas noted earlier this year, during one of the most perilous times we have faced in our 250 year history, America “needs its most optimistic young people in the country to have a place at the table now.”
“14 years ago, something monumental happened in this country,” said United We Dream Executive Director Greisa Martinez Rosas, who was this week named to TIME’s inaugural Visionaries list. “Not just the announcement of the DACA program, but the beginnings of real possibility. The possibility that immigrant youth, queer and trans youth, working-class youth, could be the ones to shape history. DACA’s anniversary is a moment for Congress to see the truth: all across the country, we are witnessing an ongoing mission to delegalize millions of people by eroding the very protections they rely on, DACA included.”
“If left unchallenged, its consequences will reach far beyond any single program, touching families, neighborhoods, and the very ideals of justice,” Martinez Rosas continued. “In the workplace where employers can exploit fear, where workers are afraid to report wage theft, unsafe conditions, or abuse. Today, we call on Congress to deliver for working people and deliver citizenship now!”