DACA Recipients Protected by U.S. Supreme Court Ruling, but the Fight Continues

Our country is at its strongest when we welcome immigrants. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program has strengthened our communities by contributing to our diversity and giving young people opportunities to thrive. In 2017, the Shriver Center condemned the Trump Administration’s reckless and racist decision to end DACA and senselessly upend hundreds of thousands of lives. DACA recipients and their families, who exemplify the resilience of the American Dream every day, should not be subject to the racial animus motivating this cruel decision.

Today, we commend the United States Supreme Court’s decision that the Trump Administration may not immediately proceed with its plan to end a program protecting about 700,000 young immigrants known as Dreamers from deportation. However, we strongly disagree that President Trump’s words and actions to repeatedly attack and vilify non-white immigrants, including attacking DACA recipients (the vast majority of whom are from Mexico), can be brushed aside as somehow unrelated. The Trump Administration’s action with respect to DACA is a part of a racist and xenophobic agenda aimed at immigrants from non-white countries.

DACA is a reasonable, temporary solution to failures of our immigration system that kept young people living in the United States from opportunities to get an education and work to support themselves and their families. DACA recipients and their families are part of our social fabric— friends, neighbors, classmates, caretakers, and colleagues. Many have lived in the United States for most of their lives and have few connections to their country of birth.  And many are essential workers, directly working on the frontlines during COVID-19 crisis to come to the aid of those who are impacted.

This fight is far from over. Congress must act immediately to restore order to the lives of DACA recipients by passing legislation that allows them to live and work without fear of deportation. The Shriver Center stands with our allies in demanding that elected officials deliver the permanent stability that immigrant communities have been unfairly deprived of for far too long.