A recording of the press call can be found here
WASHINGTON — Ahead of the New Orleans 5th Circuit of Appeals’ hearing on DACA, litigators, advocates, and impacted individuals convened a press call to discuss important developments in the lawsuits against the program (Texas v. United States) and the Biden-Harris Administration’s recently announced ‘Keeping Families Together’ process (Texas v. DHS) and how the lawsuits threaten to destroy life-changing protections for over one million eligible individuals and their families across the country.
Nina Perales, Vice President of Litigation at MALDEF, said: “DACA is positioned within long-standing discretionary practices of DHS to place some people in a lower priority category for removal proceedings. We’re in the twelfth year of DACA. DACA recipients have established their lives even more firmly in the United States than before, and all of those reliance interests must be taken into account.”
Greisa Martinez Rosas, Executive Director at United We Dream Action, said: “There is no doubt that an end to DACA would be catastrophic for the entire country who would witness neighbors, coworkers, and loved ones ripped from our communities and torn from the only places we’ve called home. But this catastrophe is not inevitable. Officials at all levels —from local to federal— can and must stand with the majority of Americans who overwhelmingly support DACA and take urgent action to deliver protections now. These violent efforts to hurt our communities will continue to escalate, but what remains true is that collectively, we have the power to reject these anti-immigrant assaults and take bold, public action to protect each other, the homes we’ve built together, and the future we wish to share.”
Todd Schulte, President of FWD.us, said: “As a country, we are all better off having an immigration system that allows people to live their lives with more certainty. The DACA policy and the Keeping Families Together process are being put at risk by the same people who want to throw millions of lives into chaos. There could be no clearer contrasting vision for the future of our nation: Will we be a country that keeps families together, or will we allow a small number of people to tear families apart for their own political benefit?”
Esther Sung, Legal Director at Justice Action Center, said: “JAC, along with Make the Road New York, asked the court to intervene on the case on behalf of 11 individuals who would directly benefit from Keeping Families Together. We believe that their stories deserve to be considered as a judge determines not only the fate of this process, but also the futures of thousands of mixed-status families. Unfortunately, not only did the court fail to consider their interests, both the district court and the appellate court issued unlawful stays, effectively blocking the process from being implemented without even holding a hearing. The Fifth Circuit should know that many DACA recipients could have benefited from Keeping Families Together parole, and their stories deserve to be heard.”
Ashley DeAzevedo, President at American Families United, said: “The Biden-Harris administration’s Keeping Families Together process is a lifeline that has given so many of us a glimmer of hope after years of living in fear. It provides a pathway to a work permit and protection from deportation—basic, humane relief for American families who have been stuck in limbo for far too long. So I have to ask: What reason could Texas, and the other GOP-led states who support these lawsuits, possibly have to prevent American citizens from keeping their families together? This program doesn’t offer a free pass. It’s for people who have lived in this country for at least 10 years, who are married to U.S. citizens, and who have no criminal history. These are people who work, contribute to our communities, and are raising American children. People just like my husband.”
Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director at America’s Voice and call moderator, said: “In the context of what we have seen in the last several years, and what we are hearing on the campaign trail with very damaging anti-immigrant rhetoric, what binds these two cases together is that they are both malicious efforts to end programs that provide legal protections for long-settled immigrants in the U.S. Republicans are in court relentlessly seeking to end legal programs and make as many immigrants in America deportable as they can, including those deeply rooted in our communities and in mixed-status families. It is evident they do not just oppose illegal immigration, they oppose immigrants and immigration being legal.”
