Deporting my DACA ‘Dreamers’
They have permits, but ICE is coming
We are finding out one day at a time that no immigrant is safe under the Trump administration. This includes people who have been approved for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and have received valid, unexpired employment authorization from the Department of Homeland Security.
One of the foundational immigration priorities of this administration is to deport as many people as possible, regardless of how sympathetic their situation. One by one, immigration attorneys like me are starting to see DACA recipients placed in removal proceedings, confronting potential exile from the country they have lived in for most of their lives. Many of them will face a 10-year reentry bar if deported and likely won’t qualify for waivers due to the rigidness of our immigration laws. The Supreme Court will hear arguments today in a case that will determine their fate.
During President Barack Obama’s second term, the priorities for Immigration and Customs Enforcement were strikingly different: ICE and immigration judges were instructed to administratively close cases that were deemed low priority for removal. Thousands of cases were closed and placed in a dormant state while we waited for Congress to pass meaningful reform of our immigration laws and give these individuals a path to legal status. Many of these cases included those who qualified for DACA — certain undocumented young people who had been brought to America as children.
Pursuing the American dream
The presumption under DACA was that an individual would be protected from deportation in exchange for filing an application, paying a fee and notifying the government of his or her whereabouts. While the humanitarian implications of DACA have been immeasurable, the economic impact cannot be overstated.
The CATO Institute has estimated that the deportation of the more than 700,000 DACA recipients would cost the federal government more than $60 billion and reduce economic growth by $280 billion over 10 years.
Any confidence DACA recipients had in the U.S. government was eviscerated by President Donald Trump in September 2017, when then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the end of DACA. Now we all wait for the Supreme Court to decide its fate.
I’m an immigration attorney in Tucson, Arizona, and I have witnessed, firsthand, many nefarious actions by the Trump administration in the past two years. Not only did Sessions announce the end of DACA, he also told immigration judges they could no longer use “administrative closure” — temporarily closing cases — as a way to maintain a reasonable caseload and focus on cases deemed higher priority. The cruelty is all that matters in these policies.
In the past month, ICE has requested that the immigration court reinstate the removal proceedings of three DACA recipients whom I represent. One of these individuals has been in the United States since he was in diapers. I contacted the ICE legal office in Tucson to see whether this was a mistake and was informed it was not.
You might wonder, “What have these people done wrong to deserve this?” The answer is that they have done nothing but live productive lives. They have graduated from high school, sought higher education, and worked hard to help themselves and their families. They are trying to live the American dream during a time when the average immigrant is facing a nightmare.
Congress can save DACA
An overwhelming majority of Americans support protection for “Dreamers” (as they have been called since Congress began considering various forms of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act) and a path to citizenship for those who qualify. We cannot wait any longer for our congressional leadership to pass a DREAM Act or some similar form of relief. DACA is meaningless if ICE is going to pursue the deportation of these individuals. It’s time for our representatives in both the House and Senate to get a bipartisan deal done for either temporary or permanent relief.
The Dream and Promise Act of 2019 is one bill that could help protect people like my clients. With the lives of DACA recipients now in the hands of the Supreme Court, we should all call our members of Congress, regardless of political affiliation, to denounce the policy of placing Dreamers in removal proceedings and ending protections for them. The time is now. Fairness and humanity require it.