Nearly 20 senators led by Dick Durbin of Illinois and Jacky Rosen of Nevada are calling on top Senate committees to pass language that would block the Department of Homeland Security from using federal funds to detain and deport roughly 1 million immigrants that are protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and Temporary Protected Status programs, both of which have been relentlessly attacked by the Trump administration.
“DACA and TPS recipients have built their lives in the United States, some for more than two decades, and they do not deserve to be forced to live in fear of detention and deportation,” the 19 senators tell the Senate Committee on Appropriations and Subcommittee on Homeland Security. “In light of the clear evidence that the Trump administration is preparing to deport Dreamers and TPS recipients, we request that you include an unequivocal prohibition on any appropriated funds being used to deport them.”
That clear evidence, the senators write, lies in the reports that the administration is preparing to deport DACA recipients even before the Supreme Court has issued a ruling on the case around the program. “ICE has issued a statement confirming that DACA deportation cases that had been administratively closed will be reopened and that this ‘is occurring nationwide and not isolated to a particular state or region.’ On January 23, Acting ICE Director Matthew Albence replied to a question about these actions, saying that if ‘DACA is done away with by the Supreme Court, we can actually effectuate those removal orders.’
”Likewise,” they continue, “President Trump’s attempts to terminate Temporary Protected Status designations have been unwise, unjustified, and cruel … multiple reports have substantiated allegations of improper political interference in the Trump administration’s decisions to terminate TPS designations, which have caused needless pain and uncertainty for hundreds of thousands of TPS recipients and their families.” Following reports last year of improper political interference, Rosen met with the DHS inspector general to urge him to open a probe into the allegations.
This call to protect immigrants is all the more urgent when the Trump administration, in the midst of a pandemic, is also trying to deport the tens of thousands of DACA recipients who work as medical care professionals (many TPS beneficiaries also work as medical professionals, as well). With a Supreme Court ruling expected by June, DACA recipients who sued the administration over the termination of the program filed an urgent briefing asking the justices to take the ongoing public health crisis into account in their decision. “Termination of DACA during this national emergency would be catastrophic,” they said.
“With the country facing a once-in-a-lifetime challenge, there may be no worse time for the Supreme Court to issue a decision disrupting the lives of DACA recipients, their more than 250,000 U.S. citizen children, and the communities that rely upon them,” tweeted Tom Jawetz, vice president of immigration policy at the Center for American Progress. “During the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, DACA recipients are struggling to balance work and life just like the rest of us, and many are among the 'helpers' providing necessary medical care, designing distance learning programs for our kids, and stocking grocery shelves,” he continued.
“More than 800,000 Dreamers have come forward and received DACA,” the senators continued (a full list of letter signatories is here). “DACA has unleashed the full potential of Dreamers, who are contributing to our country as soldiers, nurses, teachers, and small business owners, and in many other ways. Now, as a result of President Trump’s decision, these Dreamers face losing their authorization to work and being deported to countries they barely remember.”