— by Eleanor Hoague, Judy Scott and Marc Cohen, updated Jan. 16 at 3 p.m. —
An intense debate over the DACA program (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) is coming to a climax this week (by January 19). If Congress does not act to protect the more than 800,000 DACA “Dreamers” they will become undocumented and deportable when their DACA authorization runs out, unless legislative action fixes this crisis, or a permanent court order stops President Trump’s decision to end this program. Apart from the DACA ruling, the Trump administration has announced the end of the TPS designation (Temporary Protected Status) for thousands who fled to the United States from El Salvador and Haiti.
These developments will have a direct impact on our local community: There are many Dreamers and TPS Salvadorians who have lived and worked on Orcas for many years, not to speak of the many others who live and work in the rest of the San Juan Islands. You may not know that they are Dreamers or recipients of TPS, although you see them every day. They speak and look and act like you and me or any other American. They were born in foreign countries, but they grew up here, became educated here, and are now working hard just like the rest of us. We MUST act to protect them. Our community has also been enriched by residents with TPS status, who escaped the devastation of natural disasters or armed conflict in their home country and have made their homes in the United States for many years. They too are deeply rooted here and are hard-working members of our society.
Trump’s recent racist remarks about Haiti, El Salvador and certain African nations have put a spotlight on our nation around the globe. This is no longer just an immigration policy debate; this is a moment of moral reckoning. We must act together to demand Congress repudiate Trump’s hateful message and endorse the fundamental principles of justice, decency and inclusion by passage of the Dream Act and a TPS fix, without amendments that further divide families.
Background: In 2012, President Obama created DACA through an executive order. DACA permitted undocumented children who were brought to the US prior to 2007 and were under the age of 16 when they arrived to apply for “deferred action.” This means that they could stay, work, and study in the US legally as long as they applied for DACA protection and renewed this application every two years. (Other eligibility requirements precluded criminals from receiving DACA protection.)
Last September the Trump administration ended the program, stating that they would accept no new applications or renewals after October 5, 2017. This means that after 2019 every single Dreamer, whether a doctor or a grocery clerk, a parent or a sibling of US citizen children, will be deportable.
El Salvador suffered a devastating earthquake in 2001 and due to this natural disaster, the Salvadorians who qualified were granted temporary protected status in the US. Most of them started businesses, worked at jobs they found, bought houses, married and had families. But on January 8, 2018 Trump rescinded Temporary Protected Status for Salvadorians, giving them until September 19, 2019 to leave the country. After that time, they become undocumented and immediately deportable, whether they own businesses or homes, whether they have American sons and daughters or parents here, whether they have built full successful lives or not..
Congressional Action: To avoid a government shutdown, Congress must vote to approve a government spending bill by January 19 to fund the government for the coming year. Passing this bill will require 60 votes in the Senate, which means that it will need bipartisan support. Hence, supporters of DACA in Congress have an opportunity to pass permanent protection for these Dreamers (and hopefully a fix for TPS) by demanding the Senate and House adopt the Dream Act and a TPS fix, as a condition for a positive vote on the government spending bill. This is a rare moment when a humane change in immigration law can be achieved …. a change that would allow Dreamers and TPS participants to stay in the US permanently, with a pathway to citizenship.
Judicial Action: Last week, a federal judge in California issued a temporary ruling that the Department of Homeland Security had accept DACA renewal applications again. This ruling is a huge step forward, but this morning the Trump administration appealed this decision directly to the Supreme Court, and there is still a significant risk that it will ultimately be blocked. This means that even if a Dreamer applies now to have his/her status renewed and pays the $495 application fee and the $85 biometrics fee, ultimately the renewal may be revoked, and the fees lost.
Dreamers need permanent protection; they cannot continue to wait in legal limbo, depending on broken partisan politics and reckless political gamesmanship.
WHAT WE CAN DO: Both of our senators, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, have pledged to stand with Dreamers and immigrants affected by TPS. Please call upon them to be more outspoken in their support at this critical moment in history through public appearances, floor speeches and social media. It needs to be clear they will withhold their votes from any government funding bill without a clean Dream Act and TPS fix.
Patty Murray: 202-224-2621; https://www.murray.senate.gov/contact/e-mail.cfm
Maria Cantwell: 202-224-3441; https://www.cantwell.senate.gov/contact/email
Other important Senators and House members who need to hear from us, are:
Susan Collins (Maine): 202-224-2523; https://www.collins.senate.gov/contact
Lisa Murkowski (Alaska); 202-224-6665; https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/contact/email
Marco Rubio (Florida): 202-224-3041; https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact
Bob Corker (Tennessee): 202-224-3344; https://www.corker.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/emailme
Dean Heller (Nevada): 202-224-6244; https://www.heller.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact-form
Will Hurd (Texas): 202-225-4511 https://hurd.house.gov/contact/email
Pete Aguilar (California): 202-225-3201 https://aguilar.house.gov/contact/email
[Editorial Note: This has been updated to reflect the Trump administration action to appeal to the Supreme Court.].
Thanks Elly for this informative portrait and the many specific action steps we can take. I appreciate all you are doing for this community (and ALL its residents) to have created LIFT, got the County Council to approve a resolution, and for dogging this local/national/international problem. Kudos!!
Thanks to Elly, Marc, and Judy for letting us know about this. Our legislators need to be more outspoken in standing up for what is right. We elect them to speak for us, so let’s get them to do it.