Washington, D.C. – On September 5, 2017, Trump tried to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program for the first time. On January 20, 2021, with Trump out of office, DACA is still in place and nearly 700,000 immigrants are protected from deportation because of it.
Yet, DACA remains at risk as a current lawsuit brought forth by Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton, and Republican officials from eight other states seek to end the program, putting hundreds of thousands of immigrants at risk of deportation.
Cynthia Garcia, DACA recipient and National Campaigns Manager For Community Protection of United We Dream, said:
“Attempting to end DACA and subjecting over 700,000 immigrant young people to deportation was one of the many cruelties of the Trump administration, and yet Trump is out, and immigrant youth continue to be protected with DACA. When Trump first tried to end DACA in 2017, immigrant youth and our allies fought back. We took to the streets, locked in arms, chanting that we are ‘Undocumented, unafraid, and here to stay!’
In many ways, the Trump administration was a failure. Trump failed to deliver on his racist promises to end DACA, and his disastrous handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has killed over 400,000 people. Unfortunately, many people did not survive the Trump presidency and others continue to live with the trauma of these past four years; subjected to family separation, detention, deportation, and death.
Through all of this, DACA remains at risk as a judge in Texas could issue a ruling any day now that would throw the lives of DACA recipients and their families into uncertainty yet again. Our nation and our new leaders must enact policies that provide a stop to deportations, citizenship for all 11 million undocumented immigrants, and which strengths and expands the DACA program.
The threats against immigrants don’t leave with Trump, his presidency is a symptom of the white supremacy rooted in the birth of this country. United We Dream will continue to push for an equitable country and a world where everyone has freedom to move, to stay and to thrive.”
