Since taking office, President Trump has led an aggressive campaign to terrorize immigrants and their families already living in and seeking entrance to the U.S. One of these actions included rescinding a policy known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which offers temporary work authorization and protection from deportation to immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Trump’s attempt to end the program. NHeLP celebrates this outcome, which shields nearly 650,000 DACA recipients from immediate deportation. Over 200,000 DACA recipients currently work on the front lines to protect the health and safety of their communities as essential health care workers, grocery store workers, janitors, farm workers, educators, and others during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We stand in awe of the immigrant youth organizers who courageously shared their stories to create the program in 2012 and fought to defend it.
At the same time, we recognize the underlying racism and xenophobia that motivated the administration’s attempt to shut down DACA, and the direct and indirect harms it had on DACA-mented individuals and their families. The Court’s refusal to recognize the inherent racial animus behind the administration’s decision to rescind DACA protections is also deeply concerning. This reticence is all the more glaring as the nation grapples with issues of race and injustice. The Trump administration’s move to rescind DACA was one of its many anti-immigrant policies that have created a climate of fear within immigration communities.
With today’s Court decision, NHeLP reaffirms its commitment to advancing health equity for immigrants across the country.
For more information about DACA:
DACA Litigation Timeline: https://www.nilc.org/issues/daca/daca-litigation-timeline/
United We Dream: https://unitedwedream.org/
