Press Statement: Aliento & Reyna Montoya Signs Amicus Brief in Support of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Recipients as DACA Heads to the Supreme Court
For immediate release // excuse Cross-Posting
Contact: Jose Patino, Director of Education & Advocacy - jose@alientoaz.org
Aliento & Reyna Montoya Signs Amicus Brief in Support of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Recipients as DACA Heads to the Supreme Court
Phoenix, Arizona – Aliento issued the following statement today on the filing of an amicus brief in [CASE NAME], urging the Supreme Court to stand in support of DACA recipients:
On October 4, 2019 the Presidents Alliance on Higher Education & Immigration submitted an Amicus Brief to the United States Supreme Court supporting the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. A total of 165 Universities from across the country signed on to an amicus brief supporting the roughly 700,000 young immigrants. This “friend of the court” brief was coordinated by the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration.
READ THE BRIEF HERE — bit.ly/DACAAmicus
DACA provided work authorization and protection from deportation to nearly 700,000 young people, enabling them to better support themselves and their families financially, build their careers, and access higher education. If this vital program is rescinded, DACA recipients will lose their ability to work and study legally, will be forced from their jobs, and will be subject to immediate deportation. The Supreme Court should agree with what federal courts across the country have made clear: the administration’s decision to terminate DACA was unlawful and has caused irreparable damage to Dreamers and their families and loved ones. There are 24,700 active DACA recipients living in Arizona whose life, safety, and prosperity depends on the existence of the DACA program.
Reyna Montoya, Founder & CEO of Aliento and DACA recipient, states “the DACA program has allowed me to live without the fear of deportation, financial security, and ability to found my own social venture organization, Aliento. It is an honor to be highlighted within amicus brief along the 165 universities that want to protect our students and their future”
Background:
Since 2012, DACA has been extraordinarily successful, offering temporary protection from deportation and the ability to work legally to more than 700,000 young immigrants who came to the United States as children. The program has benefited these Dreamers, including our students, their families, their communities, and our economy tremendously.
On September 5, 2017, the administration announced that they were terminating the DACA program, jeopardizing the futures of hundreds of thousands of young people. In the past two years, multiple courts have kept renewals ongoing for current DACA recipients, but Dreamers have still been forced to live court case to court case, uncertain about their futures and in fear of being separated from their families and the lives they have built over decades in the United States.
The future of DACA—and the futures of hundreds of thousands of Dreamers—will be argued at the U.S. Supreme Court on November 12, 2019. The Court could hand down a ruling as soon as February 2020 determining if Dreamers will lose the ability to live, study, and work in the United States
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Aliento is a community organization that is DACA, undocumented and youth-led. We are directly impacted people and allies who are invested in the well being, emotional healing, and leadership development of those impacted by the inequalities of lacking an immigration status.
Tags: DACA; Dreamers; Immigration; Supreme Court; Legalization; Dream Act;Department of Homeland Security; DHS; President Trump;