Aliento Responds to White House Immigration Principles

First, the administration ends the DACA program due to the 9 attorney general's threat of a lawsuit. Thereby creating a crisis for 793,026 DACA recipients. On August 24th of 2017 100 law professors professed the constitutionality of the DACA program. Second, the administration gives a one  month timeline for qualifying individuals to renew their DACA, an estimated 36,000 DACA recipients did not send their renewals on time according to DHS officials. Third, the president meets with House & Senate Minority Leaders Nancy Pelosi & Chuck Schumer to outline a deal on the DREAM Act of 2017 and border security. Yesterday, the administration released an anti-immigrant and mean-spirited wish list which includes: funding for the border wall, interior enforcement, border security, E-verify, decrease legal immigration, elimination protections for refugees, asylum seekers, and unaccompanied minors.

If the administration is serious in finding a permanent fix for DACA recipients, then it needs to have reasonable demands.  Dreamers are a reflection of their parents’ sacrifice, work ethic, and values. The republican party is the party of family values. Its inhumane to present a pathway to earned citizenship for Dreamers while separating them from their parents and children. If republicans truly value family, they shouldn’t support these immigration principles released by White House aides.  

We are disappointed by the administration’s immigration principles. These principles are not in good faith, nor they reflect the values of the American public. A Fox News poll states that 83% of American public want a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients. We need strong moral and sound economic leadership from the administration, not a wish list from FAIR, NumbersUSA, and CIS.  We need democrats & republicans to find a true bipartisanship solution from congress to protect our youth.

Maxima Guerrero, Leadership Development Director and DACA recipient states, “ These demands and enforcement are entirely disproportionate to the amount of positive impact we can expect. We cannot allow dreamers to be the scapegoats of CIR enforcement demands on a DREAM Act legislation. The administration must hold itself to a higher standard in leadership, and present attainable by partisan solutions”

Reyna Montoya, founder of Aliento and DACA recipient states, “A principle should always be rooted in integrity, fairness, and love. The administration’s immigration principles are a reflection of fear and humiliation to the integrity of our core values as people. Today the American public must rise to the challenge and stand with our youth without compromising our principles of fairness, family, and compassion. We call on the American public to ask congress to deliver a solution for our youth that is rooted in compassion instead of fear.”

#AlientoAZ #DreamAct #DACA

Aliento is a community organization that is undocumented and youth-led. We are directly impacted people who are invested in the well being, emotional healing, and leadership development of those impacted by the inequalities of lacking an immigration status.