Washington, D.C. – Just hours after millions of people celebrated the resounding defeat of Trump, multiple news sources began reporting that the Biden transition team is preparing numerous executive orders for the beginning of the Biden administration, one of them being an executive order to fully reinstate DACA.
Greisa Martinez Rosas, Executive Director of United We Dream and a DACA recipient said:
“We’re glad to see the Biden transition team is preparing to roll back Trump’s policies that have detained, deported and killed immigrants, and that Biden wants to fully reinstate DACA protections for recipients like me as soon as they step into the White House. These plans are the result of immigrant youth and our allies relentlessly pushing Biden during the primaries to make commitments that would protect and better the lives of 11 million undocumented immigrants who call this country home.
It’s important to remember that Biden also made commitments to end the use of for-profit detention facilities, stop deportations in his first 100 days, expand deportation protections, introduce legislation to provide a pathway to citizenship, and guarantee free health coverage to all people, regardless of immigration status, during a pandemic like COVID-19.
Protecting DACA is the floor, not the ceiling, of what a Biden-Harris administration must do. All immigrants have been severely harmed by Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and his failures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Biden must be unapologetic about pursuing every executive and legislative path to protect immigrants and include immigrants in recovery packages to respond to our health and economic crises. Immigrants have always been an essential part of our country and are a critical part of ensuring that we are on the road to recovery.
Immigrant young people of United We Dream are celebrating because we lead a movement that defeated a white supremacist administration. We survived being Trump’s targets and we are unapologetic about our demands for the next administration. We know what our communities need to live and thrive and we will not stop until we win.”
