Dreamers laud Biden’s win but remain vigilant on his DACA, immigration promises

NBC News reports that the immigrant rights political movement has hopes for a President Biden administration but is taking nothing for granted.  Although restoring the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is a given, there no doubt will be a push for congressional action on immigration.

The full restoration of DACA is a first step.  Although the Supreme Court found that the Trump administration’s attempt to rescind DACA was arbitrary and capricious, it still refuses to accept new applications.   

The threatened dismantling of DACA has had impacts.  A 28-year-old DACA recipient from Houston started to write down his story as “a way for me to cope with everything that had been going on,” especially the mental health toll the uncertainty surrounding DACA’s fate took on him. He published the book Until Death, Jail, or Deportation: Story of a Dreamer under the pen name Hector Soliz.

One activist quoted by NBC News emphasized that “We need to create legislation because we cannot be relying on executive orders anymore. We need to make sure that this is something that goes through a Congress, that’s protecting our communities and our families long term.”

Other activists agree and hope for passage of a version of the DREAM Act, with a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

KJ