Friend,

One year ago today, we and our allies celebrated our monumental legal victory before the U.S. Supreme Court that allowed immigrants with DACA to continue to live, work, and remain with their loved ones in the U.S. That day was full of hope and the promise of continuing to fight for a permanent solution for all.

Our victorious legal challenge, Wolf v. Batalla Vidal — led by courageous plaintiffs Martín, Antonio, Eliana, Mariano, Carlos, and Carolina — fought the previous administration’s callous decision to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). The Court’s June 18, 2020 ruling should have restored DACA, allowing new applicants to seek the critical relief and protections DACA provides.

However, the Trump administration again attempted to unlawfully dismantle DACA. We amended our lawsuit and secured DACA’s full restoration. However, we recognize that immigrant youth will remain vulnerable until Congress provides a permanent pathway to U.S. citizenship. 

A pathway to citizenship for immigrant youth has support on both sides of the political aisle and also from the president. In fact, on President Biden’s first day in office, he “fortified and preserved” DACA — showing his commitment to a permanent solution. And a few weeks ago, President Biden met with six DACA recipients in the White House to reiterate his support for a pathway to citizenship. 

DACA has been around for nine years, and a permanent solution is long overdue.

As you know, Friend, DACA is a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of immigrant youth across the country, many of whom have called the United States home for decades. DACA was created to protect and provide relief to young immigrants — but it was only meant to be a temporary fix until Congress enacted legislation that would provide permanent protection.

DACA recipients are brave and diverse — friends, neighbors, family members, students, colleagues, and so much more. Immigrants greatly contribute to the U.S. economy, our communities, and the labor force. In fact, over 200,000 immigrants with DACA continue to serve the country during the COVID pandemic as frontline essential workers.

The United States is the only home so many of our DACAmented community members have ever known. These immigrant youth are American — full stop.

And while today is a day to reminisce and celebrate our critical victory, our fight didn’t end with the Supreme Court victory last year, and it’s still not over today. We hope you’ll join us as we continue to advance justice and hope for immigrant youth and, ultimately, urge Congress to create a long-overdue pathway to citizenship.

Gracias,

Marielena Hincapié
Executive Director, National Immigration Law Center

This email was sent to [email protected].
If you would no longer like to receive emails, you may unsubscribe below.