On October 5th, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the 2021 district court decision that ruled the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy unlawful and sent the case back the district court.
DACA provides protection from deportation and work authorization for over 600,000 people, the majority of which have been in the United States for more than 15 years.
These protections will remain in place while litigation continues, but if DACA is ultimately struck down, the impact on DACA recipients, their families, and their livelihoods will be devastating for our communities and our country.
Congress must proactively pass permanent protections for DACA recipients. The Episcopal Church has long supported providing a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients as well as all undocumented individuals who came to the United States as children.
We also continue to push for legislation which will allow the millions of undocumented immigrants who have established roots in the United States to have a pathway to legalization and to full social and economic integration in to the United States