The internet is abuzz this holiday weekend with news that President Trump will be announcing the end of DACA on Tuesday. A Politico piece is the most widely-distributed source for this heart-shattering news, and some say that it’s not set in stone.
If you don’t know much about the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (or DACA, no one’s going to blame you for not knowing everything about it,) it basically allows certain illegal immigrants who entered the country as minors, to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and eligibility for a work permit. It was implemented by President Obama back in 2012.
Trump has gotten heat from his own party, and they have urged him not to end the program. According to the article:
In a nod to reservations held by many lawmakers, the White House plans to delay the enforcement of the president’s decision for six months, giving Congress a window to act, according to one White House official. But a senior White House aide said that chief of staff John Kelly, who has been running the West Wing policy process on the issue, “thinks Congress should’ve gotten its act together a lot longer ago.”
I’m with Kelly on this one to some extent: Congress should have gotten comprehensive immigration reform done years ago. If they had, this wouldn’t even be a problem, and over 800,000 undocumented immigrants currently benefiting from DACA wouldn’t be under threat.
It’s important to keep in mind that many of these folks would face deportation; breaking up families, leaving children without parents or guardians, and sending people back to countries they never knew. For some, it’s also a death sentence.
Regardless of if Trump is going to follow through or not, there are several things that can be done right now to defend DACA:
1. Contact your members of Congress.
Again, part of the reason why this is even a problem is that DACA is currently only in place as an executive action. If the provisions and protections of it were actually made into a law passed by Congress, Trump wouldn’t be able to get rid of it with just a flick of a pen.
He’s using Congress as a scapegoat, but it’s also the right way for us to make sure DACA protections are more durable. It also gives us the ability to expand them as part of comprehensive immigration reform.
That all said, finding our your Congressmen's office numbers and calling them is a great first step. Let them know that you want DREAMers to be protected, and that they need to do that with legislation.
Tell your friends to do the same, too. They can also email their members of Congress, but phone calls tend to be more effective.
2. Stand in solidarity with immigrants.
This is more ambiguous, but there are definitive action items that come with it.
- Reach out to any undocumented friends and family you know and make sure they don’t feel alone with what’s happening. It’s important for these folks to know they have allies. From there, just listen to what they have to say, and assume nothing.
- Find a local demonstration in defense of DACA. Chances are if you live in or near a metropolitan area, one will be organized within the next few days. Particularly if you live in an area with a high immigrant population, there may be several. If there isn’t one, get together with some like-minded friends and consider organizing one yourself. A good place to do this is your congressman’s local office. If you’re near D.C. pick one or more.
- Explain to everyone who’s mad about this, but didn’t vote, that this is exactly one of the many reasons why voting matters so much. This isn’t a blame or shame game, but this is yet another concrete example of how who represents us actually DOES matter, and how the two parties aren’t just two sides of the same coin like is often said.
Most importantly, don’t shy away from sharing why this matters to you. There are still other things to speak out about — Nazis in the streets, Harvey, the corruption of the presidency, but you can fight on multiple fronts at once. DACA can only fade away silently if you let it.
3. Help those of us Virginia win this year.
Stay with me on this one. For starters, be aware that Virginia has major elections this year — Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, and all 100 House of Delegates (lower state house) seats are up for election on November 7th (yes, only about 65 days from now.)
Even though immigration law and enforcement is the responsibility of the federal government, states have a massive amount of leeway in how they handle with them on this, and how they interact.
For example:
On April 29, 2014, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring sent a letter to the director of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), the presidents of Virginia public colleges and universities, and the chancellor of the Virginia Community College System, in response to inquiries from public institutions of higher education on whether DACA students are eligible for in-state tuition. The attorney general advised these institutions that under Virginia law, DACA students who meet Virginia's domicile requirements are eligible for in-state tuition.
It’s actions like these that make Mark Herring the only real choice for Attorney General here in Virginia. In addition, our right-wing friends here in the commonwealth have tried to institute laws in the last couple of years that would have:
- Forced organizations who are helping settle refugees and immigrants to tell local and state officials where and when those refugees and immigrants would be settled.
- Directed and allowed law enforcement to detain undocumented immigrants so they can be picked up by ICE. Some of these laws even allowed for this to take place after someone’s sentence was already over in the case of criminal charges.
- Direct local police departments across the state to have their officers be essentially conscripted into ICE, allowing them to become an arm of federal immigration enforcement (read: Trump’s deportation force.)
That’s why Virginia needs Ralph Northam as Governor, Justin Fairfax as Lt. Governor, and as many Democrats as possible to be elected delegate this year. You can help out by making sure every Virginian you know is aware that there are elections this year, and if you can also help both monetarily and with your time.
Pick a candidate and help them in any way you can. The bulk of my attention and aid has been to Hala Ayala, who’s the Democratic Nominee for the House of Delegate District I live in. She also beat me in the primary.
Virginia HD-51 — Hala Ayala