WASHINGTON, D.C. – We must act now to pass more permanent solutions for DACA recipients and DACA eligible youth, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, farm workers, and other essential workers.
The ruling by a federal judge in Texas to block the Biden Administration from approving new applications for the DACA program underlines the necessity for Congress to take immediate action. We must remove obstacles and instead, create pathways to citizenship for immigrant youth and other immigrants who have been scapegoated, vilified, and discriminated against for far too long.
While this ruling will not impact current DACA recipients, it is a warning bell that comprehensive immigration reform is long overdue. This ruling will affect the women and their children that comprise approximately three-quarters of people migrating to the U.S. each year putting more and more lives at stake as our current immigration system proves to be unbalanced and hostile.
The DACA program has granted work permits and protection from deportation to more than 600,000 young immigrants, but DACA was never intended to stand on its own. It was meant to be a down payment on America’s promise of opportunity and justice for all—but Republicans in Congress want to cancel the check.
NOW demands that Congress include a pathway to citizenship in the upcoming budget, and make comprehensive immigration reform a top priority. No more excuses. No more delay.