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Texas Voices Standing up for DACA Program and Dreamers

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Austin, TX – The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program provides opportunities and futures for nearly 800,000 Dreamers who live, study, and work in America, including more than 124,000 in Texas. Yet the future of DACA is under serious threat. A coordinated assault on DACA, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, is trying to force President Trump into ending the program.

In response, voices in Texas are speaking up for DACA and Dreamers. A letter from the Texas House Border Caucus to AG Paxton, recapped in the El Paso Times, and an editorial in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times each highlight why DACA is good for Texas and America. We excerpt both pieces below:

A story in the El Paso Times, “Border lawmakers call for Paxton to rescind DACA letter” notes:

Lawmakers from border communities are asking Attorney General Ken Paxton to rescind a letter he sent to the Trump administration asking them to do away with a federal program that gives temporary work permits to people who entered the country illegally as children.

The House Border Caucus sent a letter to Paxton on Monday night, warning that ending Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, would lead to “cruel and unjustifiable consequences” for young Texans. The program protects those who were brought into the country illegally as children from deportation.

…”Quite frankly, I think it’s un-humanitarian for our attorney general to ask for this program to be eliminated,” Blanco said. “These folks are an important part of the fabric for our Texas culture and our American culture. This is a country of immigrants.

Corpus Christi Caller-Times editorial: “Attack on DACA is an affront to what Texas means”:

Every once in a while it’s a good idea for us Texans to remind ourselves that “Texas” means friend in an ancient American Indian tongue.

In June, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton did something that we have to agree with El Paso state Rep. César Blanco is “counter to the values of Texas.” Paxton sent the Trump administration a letter threatening to sue the government if it doesn’t rescind Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, the program that protects immigrants brought here illegally as children from deportation.

DACA brings a small measure of justice and humanity to immigration enforcement.

…The Texas House Border Caucus’ opinion on this matter deserves a lot more credit than that of Paxton and those other nine attorneys general. The caucus represents border communities directly and deeply affected by immigration issues. Immigration is much more of an abstraction for Paxton, a North Texan. It’s easy for his rich, insular neighbors to get worked up by tales of predatory illegal immigrants, told by predatory politicians. Residents of low-crime border counties know better. They coexist safely and peacefully with immigrants.

Read more about SB 4, Texas’ anti-immigrant law, here.