Washington, DC – Over 70 mayors and local governments from across the country have signed onto a letter calling for Congress to enact permanent protections for immigrant youth, including DACA recipients.
Mayors from major metropolitan cities with large immigrant populations such as Los Angeles and New York City, mayors from cities along the border such as San Diego and Chula Vista, and mayors from states like Idaho, North Carolina, and Oklahoma have expressed solidarity in standing with immigrant youth and vowed to continue supporting immigrants living in their cities.
Earlier this year the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program The recent Fifth Circuit decision is yet another clear indicator that the future of hundreds of thousands of DACA-eligible individuals who call the U.S. home is at great risk.
Juan Manuel Guzman, State Advocacy Director for United We Dream, said:
“The ending of DACA would have a devastating impact on millions of people including DACA recipients, DACA-eligible individuals, their families, friends and communities across the country. Mayors from across the country are signing onto this letter as a call to action in urging Congress to come up with permanent protections for immigrants.
Enacting permanent protection for immigrant youth is supported by the majority of American people and Congress must implement the will of the people. Recent polling shows that if DACA is struck down by the courts, 65 percent of voters support Congress taking action to provide permanent protections for immigrant youth. We have no more time to waste. Congress needs to act now.”
