Today, JAC joined nearly 10,000 others in submitting a comment on DHS’s proposed DACA rule. Our comment asserts that DHS’s proposal fails to meet the urgent needs of undocumented youth and immigrant communities. Instead, we need to re-imagine DACA. A new DACA must center immigrant youth and:
- Keep families together
- Expand coverage
- Eliminate unnecessary bars to eligibility
- Provide eligibility alternatives reflecting realities of immigrant youths’ lives
- Have increased longevity and security to minimize unnecessary filings and disruptions
We must end eligibility criteria that prematurely ages youth of color and criminal bars that re-punish Black and Brown communities for having interacted with a systemically racist criminal legal system. Instead, we need a holistic DACA program that allows immigrant youth to live and work with dignity.
Read JAC’s full, 10-page comment detailing what we think a bold, necessary, and fully attainable DACA program looks like.