Biden-Harris, Show Leadership for DACA

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Tell President Biden & Vice President Harris to press for and sign legislation to provide permanent protection for the Dreamers and other DACA Recipients!

Will the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals rule that DACA is illegal?

Click here to also email Congress about DACA

On October 10, 2024, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans heard oral arguments in a case that could end the protections that allow immigrants, who were brought to the U.S. as children, to remain in the place they’ve called home 17 years or more. The lawsuit, filed by Texas and six other states, could end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and tear hundreds of thousands of people from their homes, families, and communities.

As Unitarian Universalists, we pledged to Protect the Dreamers, the Recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) with a Pathway to Permanent Residence, in the 2023 Action of Immediate Witness.

DACA was never meant to be a permanent solution; it was only meant to provide temporary protection to give Congress time to enact a permanent solution. Furthermore, since prior court cases have resulted in injunctions barring new applications for DACA protection, there are hundreds of thousands of additional immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children in recent years. Their only hope is for Congress to pass legislation to provide permanent protection for childhood arrivals.

Since the Obama administration implemented DACA more than 12 years ago, DACA recipients have been making significant contributions to the U.S. economy and have been paying both income and social security taxes. To support DACA families and to ensure a vibrant economic future for the communities in which they live, we need a comprehensive solution that includes current DACA recipients and the hundreds of thousands of child arrivals who arrived after the effective date of the original DACA policy.

Many polls show a strong majority of registered voters (more than 70% in some polls) favor an earned path to citizenship for Dreamers. For details, see FWD.US NATIONWIDE IMMIGRATION POLL FINDINGS MEMO.

Only Congress can provide permanent stability for DACA recipients. DACA Hearing Underscores Need for a Legislative Solution perhaps by passing the Dream Act of 2023.

Take action to protect the Dreamers and other DACA recipients!

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Background

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is a policy that permits some immigrants who were unlawfully brought into the U.S. as children to apply for a two-year renewable period of deferred action from deportation and an employment authorization document to work in the U.S.

DACA was implemented by the Obama Administration on June 15, 2012, as a temporary measure to protect Dreamers until Congress could act to provide permanent protection. To be eligible for DACA, recipients had to satisfy several criteria, such as they:

Entered the U.S. under the age of 16.
Continuously resided in the United States for at least 5 years preceding June 15, 2012, and were present in the United States on that date.

Since 2012, more than 825,000 people have received deferred action under the DACA policy. But DACA has been under threat for the past seven years.

In September 2017, the Trump administration announced a plan to phase out DACA, but three U.S. district courts issued injunctions preventing this phase-out, and the Supreme Court upheld these injunctions.
In May of 2018, the Attorney General of Texas and the attorneys general of eight other states filed suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, seeking an end to the DACA program. The district court judge ruled that the DACA policy violated the law and barred the government from accepting new applications but allowed current recipients to keep their status and submit renewals during the appeal process.
The case involving the original policy and the new federal rule that the Biden administration issued in 2022 has been winding its way through the District Court and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for several years. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments on DACA on October 10 and will issue a ruling at their pleasure. DACA’s future is in unclear.

Current DACA recipients have spent an average of more than seventeen years in the U.S., so this is really the only home they have known. More importantly, their families are here—more than 1.3 million people live with a DACA recipient, including more than 300,000 U.S.-born children who have at least one parent with DACA. In addition, DACA recipients are an essential part of their communities—nearly 80% are employed, and about half of those are in jobs deemed essential, such as healthcare, education and childcare, agriculture, and food processing. They helped keep our country functioning during the pandemic and have contributed to the steady economic growth since the pandemic!

Grounding

As of General Assembly 2024, as Unitarian Universalists, we have agreed to “adopt new language on core religious values.” We agree love is the power that holds us together and is at the center of our shared values. The values we share include all the following, which we hold as inseparable and deeply interconnected: Interdependence, Pluralism, Justice, Transformation, Generosity, and Equity. (Read more on the Article II revision process.)

With these agreed core religious values in mind, we also ground our call for action in support of Dreamers and other recipients of DACA in the following Unitarian Universalist statements:

Protect the Dreamers, the Recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) with a Pathway to Permanent Residence, 2023 Action of Immediate Witness
Undoing Systemic White Supremacy: A Call to Prophetic Action, 2021 Statement of Conscience
Protect the Rights of Immigrants and Asylum Seekers, 2019 Action of Immediate Witness
End Family Separation and Detention of Asylum Seekers and Abolish ICE, 2018 Action of Immediate Witness
End Immigrant Child and Family Detention Now, 2015 Action of Immediate Witness
Immigration as a Moral Issue, 2013 Statement of Conscience

Dreamers have been living with temporary protection from deportation for 12 years, but DACA is one step closer to being terminated!

Tell President Biden and Vice President Harris it is time to step up and lead for DACA.

They must press for and sign legislation to provide permanent protection for the Dreamers and other DACA recipients!

President Biden & VP Harris, Show leadership for DACA

Subject: Act to prevent the end of DACA, in compassion and welcome

Message:

As a person motivated by Unitarian Universalist faith values, I urge you to press Congress to act for the Dreamers and other Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients. More than 12 years ago, the Obama-Biden administration implemented DACA to provide temporary relief from deportation and the ability to get employment authorization. Thank you, Joe! Since then, DACA recipients have significantly contributed to our economy and paid income and social security taxes. They are part of the bright future of our local communities and nation that you are shaping. Thank you, Biden-Harris! As you know, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments on DACA. If the court rules that DACA is illegal, a pathway to permanent protection for Dreamers will be needed. We need a comprehensive solution that includes current DACA recipients and the hundreds of thousands of kids who arrived after the effective date of the original DACA policy. Currently, 408,000 students in postsecondary education are undocumented, and three-fourths of them came to the U.S. as minors. I know you do not like to leave people behind, so you understand that we must also help the other DACA recipients. We can not leave families broken and communities devastated. My faith teaches they all have inherent worth and dignity. That is why our denomination passed a call for a pathway to permanent residence for Dreamers and other DACA recipients with overwhelming support as a moral imperative. I'm sure you understand the power of faith teachings and principled commitments. This matters to my faith tradition, and I need it to matter to you. You have the power to press Congress, and Congress has the power to pass legislation allowing people to adjust their status to stay where their actual home is—here, in the U.S. Please urge Congress to pass legislation for Dreamers and other DACA recipients, perhaps like the Dream Act of 2023.

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Will the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals rule that DACA is illegal?

Background

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is a policy that permits some immigrants who were unlawfully brought into the U.S. as children to apply for a two-year renewable period of deferred action from deportation and an employment authorization document to work in the U.S.

DACA was implemented by the Obama Administration on June 15, 2012, as a temporary measure to protect Dreamers until Congress could act to provide permanent protection. To be eligible for DACA, recipients had to satisfy several criteria, such as they:

Entered the U.S. under the age of 16.

Continuously resided in the United States for at least 5 years preceding June 15, 2012, and were present in the United States on that date.

Since 2012, more than 825,000 people have received deferred action under the DACA policy. But DACA has been under threat for the past seven years.

In September 2017, the Trump administration announced a plan to phase out DACA, but three U.S. district courts issued injunctions preventing this phase-out, and the Supreme Court upheld these injunctions.

Grounding

With these agreed core religious values in mind, we also ground our call for action in support of Dreamers and other recipients of DACA in the following Unitarian Universalist statements:

Protect the Dreamers, the Recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) with a Pathway to Permanent Residence, 2023 Action of Immediate Witness

Undoing Systemic White Supremacy: A Call to Prophetic Action, 2021 Statement of Conscience

Protect the Rights of Immigrants and Asylum Seekers, 2019 Action of Immediate Witness

End Family Separation and Detention of Asylum Seekers and Abolish ICE, 2018 Action of Immediate Witness

End Immigrant Child and Family Detention Now, 2015 Action of Immediate Witness

Immigration as a Moral Issue, 2013 Statement of Conscience

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