FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 17, 2021
CONTACT: Mari Perales Sánchez | mariap@cdmigrante.org
Judge Hanen’s Decision on DACA is a Continuance of Attacks on Immigrant Families – Permanent Legislative Protection and Strong Agency Accountability is Imperative
Baltimore, MD – Texas Federal Judge Hanen has ruled to stop DACA approvals for new applicants. DACA approvals of current recipients will continue to be processed and approved. As soon as applications processing became available to them last December, new applicants rushed to submit their applications to the Department of Homeland Security, just to face months-long processing backlogs beyond their control. This decision unjustly affects them, their families, and the broader immigrant community.
We have always known that DACA has been a temporary, band-aid solution. We call on Congress and politicians to fulfill their promises to the immigrant community and provide permanent protections to all eleven million undocumented immigrants and their families. We also urge the White House and Federal Agencies to bolster their services to applicants.
The lives of immigrant youth and their families cannot be constantly weaponized for political means — we have a moral, socioeconomic, and communal duty to stop this cycle of uncertainty for our immigrant community.
Mari Perales Sanchez, who is leading policy advocacy initiatives at Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, is a current DACA recipient who in 2017 sued the Trump Administration on DACA and went on to the Supreme Court. She said, “This decision is vile and deeply impacts immigrant families as a whole. We have recent high school graduates who couldn’t wait to receive work authorization and families seeking protection from deportation whose lives are once again being thrown into uncertainty. Our lives cannot keep being halted, derailed or changed by court decisions and court decisions again. We need an immediate, permanent answer from Washington now.”