DACA recipients and immigrant rights advocates are growing concerned over the lack of movement on DACA protections.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, protects undocumented immigrants from deportation if they were brought to the U.S. as a child. The recipients are often referred to as “Dreamers.”
Recently, federal court rulings have attempted to undermine the program. With a conservative Supreme Court, immigrant rights advocates and DACA recipients are concerned about the future status of Dreamers. They want a legal pathway to citizenship.
“What I need people to understand is that there is no legal way to do this. There are a lot of pathways to citizenship for a lot of different circumstances and for a lot of different kinds of people,” Venecia Salazar, a DACA recipient, told KSL. “DACA recipients do not have a pathway to citizenship like all these other individuals. That is the point: to create a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients. We are trying to do this legally, trust me.”
Advocates want the politicians to issue better federal protections. Asian Americans Advancing Justice issued a statement condemning Congress for its failure to provide Dreamers a pathway to citizenship.
“There is no excuse for lawmakers that oppose a pathway to citizenship. Most Americans believe that our nation needs to provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants,” the statement reads. “Time and time again, federal lawmakers have talked about finding a permanent solution, but our communities continue to be left with growing uncertainties about their futures and the futures of their families.”
“As a result of anti-immigrant lawmakers’ refusal to protect immigrant young people from detention and deportation, millions of undocumented youth in our communities, including over 600,000 active DACA recipients, remain without a solution as DACA slowly dies in the courts. “
AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc. Follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to support our efforts to produce diverse content about the AAPI communities. We are supported in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library in partnership with the California Department of Social Services and the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs as part of the Stop the Hate program. To report a hate incident or hate crime and get support, go to CA vs Hate.
