John,

DACA is right and legal, but this battle is far from over.

After months of deliberation, the Fifth Circuit Court has sent the case surrounding DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival) back to the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Texas. There, the same lower court judge who previously ruled DACA unlawful, will have a chance to rule once again. Ultimately, the Supreme Court may decide.

This is not the outcome that we wanted, but for now, the program remains open for renewals for current DACA holders.

The lawsuit, brought by 7 conservative states and led by Texas, seeks to end DACA, which would have a devastating impact on millions of people including over 600,000 Dreamers who are DACA recipients, DACA eligible individuals, families, friends, communities, our economy, and our country as a whole. More than 1.3 million people live with a DACA recipient, including 300,000 U.S.-born children who have at least one parent with DACA.¹

Click here to write to your members of Congress urging them to protect undocumented youth, their communities, and their families.

If DACA is rescinded and participants lose their work authorization, an estimated 22,000 jobs would be lost every month for two years.² Over the past year and a half, more than 343,000 DACA recipients in the workforce were employed in jobs deemed essential by the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Of this, 34,000 were healthcare workers providing patient care, and another 11,000 individuals were working in healthcare settings keeping these facilities functioning.³

DACA recipients have been in a state of legal limbo for years now, going from one court case to another, never knowing if they will lose their work permits and protections from deportations. It is time for Congress to finally act and provide certainty to millions of people. Congress must pass a permanent legislative solution to protect DACA recipients and additional immigrant youth from facing deportation and the tearing apart of their families and communities.

The time for Congress to act is now! 63% of voters say they would be upset if immigration reform doesn’t pass and undocumented people are left vulnerable to deportation. We need comprehensive immigration reform, including a pathway to citizenship. As a crucial first step, by the end of this year Congress must enact a law to make DACA permanent and allow younger undocumented immigrant youth to apply. Click here to send a letter to your members of Congress and tell them to act!⁴

We know that when we come together and fight for what is right and just, we win. President Obama implemented the DACA program due to the organizing work of undocumented young people who bravely shared their stories, forced the nation to reckon with the injustices towards immigrant communities, and demanded that the deportations separating communities come to an end.

We won before and together we can win again.

Thank you for being with us in this fight,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs

¹ https://www.americanprogress.org/press/release-new-cap-data-confirm-daca-is-a-positive-force-for-recipients-and-their-families/
² https://www.fwd.us/news/what-if-daca-ends/#posts
³ https://www.cisa.gov/publication/guidance-essential-critical-infrastructure-workforce
⁴ https://globalstrategygroup.app.box.com/s/2hcd1qk5jmyefd593cn4jvulm1dof45z