An Open Letter from Undocumented, DACAmented and formerly Undocumented Leaders to the Immigrant Rights Movement
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On the eighth anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA, we’re releasing this open letter to the immigrant rights movement with a clear demand: not a single person or organization should use the rescission of DACA to seek compromises that further fund any immigration enforcement in exchange for relief for some of us. Do not sell out immigrant communities.
We are a group of DACA recipients, undocumented or formerly undocumented allies with more than ten years of experience and knowledge rooted in organizing and community work. Our politics have expanded and shifted beyond our own lived experiences.
The immigrant rights movement must also commit to fighting for justice for all communities of color, including Black communities — who are disproportionately impacted by deportations. We believe that this is the right moment to echo the Black Lives Movement’s demand to defund the police and be clear that we must also abolish ICE.
Contrary to popular belief, President Obama didn’t announce DACA out of the goodness of his heart. Undocumented immigrant youth and our communities organized and fought to stop our own deportations one by one, organized sit-ins at his 2012 re-election campaign offices, protested and marched, and engaged in civil disobedience across the country. We organized actions calling for #Not1More deportations, such as the Undocubus that culminated in Charlotte, NC at the 2012 DNC Convention. Many of these tactics we learned from the Civil Rights Movement and the fight for Black liberation — all of which made DACA possible.
Simply put, undocumented activists young and old put ourselves at risk and made DACA a reality.
Even with DACA, three million people were deported under the Obama administration. Those deportations continue to this date, and it’s gotten worse.
Under President Trump, dozens of undocumented immigrants have been murdered at the hands of CBP and ICE, including Roxsana Hernandez and Johana Medina, two trans women seeking asylum, multiple children, including Claudia Patrica Gomez Gonzalez, Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez, Jakelin Caal Maquin, indigenous Guatemalan children. Thousands of children are not accounted for once separated from their parents in the hands of CBP. Racist government institutions act with complete impunity, and we have seen the rise of white supremacy targeting Black people, communities of color and immigrant communities.
We are about to witness the Supreme Court slash DACA and put about 650,000 DACA recipients, including many of us, at risk of deportation. But this time we cannot do business as usual.
As the uprising across the country in support of Black lives continues to shift the country’s political conscience, we want to acknowledge that Black immigrants are cruelly targeted by this country’s immigration policies. We support Black organizers and communities that are leading the protests and marches across the United States and the world to demand justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony Mcdade, Ahmaud Arbery, and are calling for the police to be defunded and for governments to invest those resources in Black communities.
Many of us started organizing to save our communities as youth, and as the years have gone by we’ve seen the broad immigrant rights movement be co-opted and divided based on narratives of who’s deserving (the model dreamer) and who’s not. We’ve seen organizations try to strike deals with Democrats and Republicans without undocumented people at the table or at the expense of the most vulnerable in our communities.
We are here to remind all DACA recipients, mainstream immigrant rights organizations, undocumented people, and allies to look inward as you move forward in this critical movement.
We make the following demands of leaders of immigrant rights organizations and politicians who are thinking of using the rescission of DACA to seek compromises on our community’s behalf. And we hope that these demands are widely heard by our own community as well:
- Stop using narratives that promote anti-Blackness and that pit us against the movement for Black Lives as there are Black undocumented immigrants. You must fully embrace the movement for Black Lives and that means embracing Black undocumented immigrants too.
- No more legislation, backdoor deals, or compromises with politicians who have a history of being anti-immigrant or who continue to uphold the “model or good immigrant” narrative and criminalizes the rest of us.
- #Not1More means exactly that, not one more of our people deported, murdered, violated, or abused by ICE, the police, and Customs and Border Patrol.
- Undocumented people and those directly impacted by this issue must be the strategists, organizers, spokespeople, and architects of our movement.
- Recognize that the solutions will come from those who are directly affected and not from DC. We know the problem because we live them on a daily basis and therefore we have the solutions.
- It is overdue for the movement to evolve and that will only happen if we are all empowered to take action and not wait for immigrant rights institutions to tell us to do so.
- It is imperative that organizations talk about how the US’ foreign policies of intervention and destabilization of our home countries is what forces most of us to come here. Our families “seek a better future” here because the US forces us to come here.
The Trump administration decided to end this program as a way to use immigrant youth as a bargaining chip to enact his racist immigration agenda. We will not let this happen. DACA recipients will not trade our safety and well-being for the criminalization of Black, Native, and People of Color.
We ask everyone to not look away and to join us in a day of action on the day of the SCOTUS DACA decision. No matter what the decision is, we will:
- Join the Black Lives Matter movement in a demand for the government to #DefundThePolice across the country and reinvest in housing, education, economic support, climate justice, healthcare, and mental health services.
- Demand the federal government to defund ICE and CBP as a first step to #AbolishICE.
- Demand for Trump to resign.
We must remember that the police and ICE are part of the same systems that murder, incarcerate and deport Black, Brown and People of Color. We must organize to abolish ICE and defund the police.
Join us on this day of action and let’s fight like hell for all of us!
Sincerely,
Individuals:
Jorge Gutierrez
Erika Andiola
Nancy Meza
Lucia Allain
Carlos Rojas Rodriguez
Justino Mora
Juana Guzman
Tania Unzueta
Julio Salgado
Aly Wane
Belén Sisa
Jonathan Jayes-Green
Neidi Dominguez
Carolina Canizales
Denea Joseph
Nicole Solis-Sison
Jose Manuel Vasquez
Barbara Elena Sahagún
Renata Mauriz
Yadira Hernandez
Set Hernandez Rongkilyo
Maria Mayorga
Cindy Agustin
Miriam O. Nunez Valdovinos
Dorian Gomez Pestana
Isaias Vasquez
Karla Estrada
Emilio Vicente
Dago Bailon
Julio Salgado
Monica Reyes
Anthony Ng
Isabel ONeal
Karina Ruiz
Aly Wane
Belén Sisa
Oscar Uriel Zarate
Mario De Leon
Aiko Marcial Rivera
Aldair Arriola Gomez
Marcos Nieves
Lilia Rebeca Roman Mijares
Yadira Alonzo
Jose Salazar
maria garcia
Juan Ruiz
AYLA ROMAN
PEDRO TORRES
Jorge Resendez
Luis Gomez
Berenise Ruiz Almanza
Alejandro Ortega
Pedro Carrillo
Jonathan Jayes-Green
Yadira Alonzo
Lucia Yao
Alberto Villanueva
Chandler Sanchez
Maria Rangel Leon
Yael Pineda
Josefina Flores
Oscar J. Luna
Guerline M Jozef
Madelyn Kamholz
Christina Thompson
Heather Hunt
Karen Perez
Pamela Reséndiz Trujano
Carolina Canizales
Antonia Rivera
Candy A Mantilla
Luis Angel Reyes Savalza
Kaiyan Padilla
Eglė Malinauskaitė
Rahi Hasan
Tereza Lee
Danna Harvey
Claudi Ramirez
Denea Joseph
Alexandra Sarkis
Zacil Pech
Teresa Limon
Olga Garcia
Carlos Amador
Pablo Reyes Morales
Stefania Arteaga
Citlalli Bueno
Pablo Reyes Morales
Elizeth Arguelles
KARLA ROSAS
Jose Hernandez Lopez
Dinanda Pramesti
Hector Alessandro Negrete
Juan C Gallegos
Caleb Freestone
Nataly Allimonos
Jordie Conde
Lorena D Ford
Olga Garcia
Jenna Manning
Sophie Goldstein
Maribel Cruz
Monica Perez Valdovinos
Jessica Rodriguez
Mayra Guerrero
Paolo Lousie Marasigan Rein
Susana Lujano
Cindy Lopez
Nefi Izaguirre
Carol Amaya
Eunsoo Jeong
Jocelyn Santos Aparicio
Lupita Romero
Kari Perr
Kyla Worrell
Mary Margaret Lewis
Victoria Aguilar
Yadira Alonzo
Maribel Cruz
Diana Diaz
Diana Diaz
Hector Rubio-Garcia
Yaruska Ordinola
Carol Amaya
TAMIE BAKER
Brenda Barrio
Nicole Wildes
Michelle Turman
CARLOS Hernandez
Pamela Emengo
Kryssia Campos
Pia I
Rocio Ayala
Jerra Spence
Annie Kao
Alma Leyva Orozco
Sutherland Jaramillo
Colleen O’Connell
Beth Figueroa
Maria Pia Rodriguez
Brett Daniels
Isabelle Muhlbauer
Miriam Berenice Gonzalez Avila
Gabriella G
Rodrigo Pimentel
Adrian Robles
Juan Carlos Gonzalez
Sarah Lefebvre
Molly Boykoff
Farrah Su
Gillian Lee
Lainnie Contreras Felan
Izz LaMagdeleine
Sarahi Espinoza
Grace Monk
Jose Sanabria
Howard Kushlan
Rebecca Rodriguez
Janelle Bacotti
Hetal Patel
Sarait Escorza
Sandra Martinez
Juan Arturo Garcia Rodriguez
Cruz Enick Salazar Sandoval
Cyndi Bendezú
Julio bencid
Andrea Ramirez
Deborah Nicol
Melvin Wosbeli Rico
Indrani Das
Adriana Alvarez
Julia Ellis
Dulce Morales
Diana Hernandez
Stefany Urrea Rondon
Mayte Arredondo
Katelyn Seitz
Vanessa Sanchez
Ysatis Tagle
Maribel Morales
Jose Argueta
jeremy gonzalez
Fernando
Diana Romero
Laura Estrada
Marivic Danino Grijalva
Fryda Faugier Ferreira
Noor Schlotterbeck
Sayra Cruz
Janet Marron
Edu Hernandez
Ricardo Diaz
Yaneth Cruz
Andrew Isaiah Escajeda
Ioana Raducu
Denise Castro
Mario A Cruz
Terersita de la Torre
Albina Medina
Natalia gonzales diaz
Edwin Juan
Karina R.
Rachelle Alvarez
Lizbeth Tapia
Cruz A Flores Vazquez
Gabriel Najar
Tania Vargas
Armando Ibanez
Cindy Rodriguez
Karen Zarco
Lisa Schloemer
Abby Arellanes
Esperanza Cuautle
Daniel Bae
Gabriel Cardenas
Luis Mata
Jin Park
Xochitl Garcia
Cristina Padilla
Magaly Hernandez
Itzel
Yareli Solis
Lizeth Flores
Veronica ruiz
Sabrina Hernandez
David Reyes
Gabriel Garduno Chavez
Jessica Garduno
Guadalupe Ayala
Daniella Gonzalez
Jonathan Israel Aguirre Valencia
Stephanie Soriano-Cruz
Edwin Soto Saucedo
SangAh Lee
Pete Saldi
Melissa Campbell
Yessica Gonzalez
Ana Davila
Jeffrey
Catherine Marino
Soledad Lujan
Christina Newsom
Ashley MALDONADO
Anahi Cisneros Sanchez
Nancy Guzman
Gabriela Carrera
Yeimi A Hernandez Cruz
Edna Monroy
Jacqueline Perez
Andrea Ortiz
David Bernal
Brenda Quintanilla
Destiny Fogarty
Maria G Ocampo
Amor Habbab-Mills
Karla horta
Patricia Ward
Domenica Castillo
Pablo Barrios
Jarenth de Leon
Katherine Ochoa Castillo
Viridiana Inguanzo
Maria Watson
Josselyn Alvarez
Heather Romero Mercieca
Amanda Marshall
Vanessa Afalava
Francisco Arvizu
Adelayda galicia lopez
Cristina Amial
Margaret McGee
Teresa Garcia
Ariana
Kevin S. Alejandrez
Barbara DeVeaux-Griffith
Brenda Cabrera
Sarah Sundberg
James Bechayda
Alex Aaron Peña
Brenda Quintanilla
mark! Lopez
Beronica jimenez
Taylor Thomas
Michelle kim Herberger
Carmen De La Torre
Laura Langdon
Nicole Childs
Ximena Gomez
Karla Sánchez
Dalia Gonzalez
Sarai Bravo
Laura Cortez
Camille Malonzo
Gaby Gil
Carina Carlos
Lesle Vallejo
Susana Estefania Araujo
Kimberly Gomez
Delia Arriaga
Diana Cuevas
Teresa Hidalgo
Argelia Cardenas
Maria Gutierrez
Jose Isrral Banegas
Biviana Zepeda Paz
Leonora Naser-Saravia
Kayla Elizondo
Jessie Coleman
Gema Mendez
Adriana Martinez
Adriana Tapia
Yesenia Capellino
Damaris Brown
Leslie Canales
Gia Garcia
Leasly Salazar
Esmeralda Carretero
Citlali Vergara Gonzalez
Maria Elizabeth Barrera
Cinthia Cruz
Saby Herrera
Ishmael Perez
Lilia Antuna
Juan Arturo Garcia Rodriguez
Consuelo S. Moreno
Gabriel Barillas
Cosme Soto
Sandra Garcia
Jaleel
Alex Aldana
Argelia Rico
Ariana Rizo
Yesenia Gómez
Robert Sanchez
Magybet Mendez
Zenaida Mena
Deborah Noriega
Sylvia DeGuadalupe Lepe
Roberto Valadez
Paola V
Monica Lopez
Geu Rim Park
Natalia Neira
Melissa perez winder
Milca Morales
Amalia
Kiara colon
Ubaldo Campos
Laura Estrada
Analy N.
Maria
Martha Zimmerman
Paolo Velásquez
Kimberly Hernandez
Juan Juárez
Hoa Do
Victoria Landell
Kendi Campos
Christina Rosenberry
Adriana Razo
Javier Davila
Sarah Ricketson
Leah Ratner
Mike Sarzo
Avriel Epps-Darling
Alyssa Garcia
Saray Ortiz
Lorenza santos
Moises (Mo) Rodriguez Cruz
Maria Kromis
Sara Cuevas
Leticia perez
Miguel Eduardo Tusa Lavieri
Melisa Altamirano
Kelly Castellano
Melissa Tapia
Brenda Rodriguez
Chris Chieng
Priscilla Estrada
Andrew Herrera
Ivan Delgadillo
Paola Huitron
Rab ro
Andrea Reyes
sergio jimenez
Carolina Cossyleon
Lizette Estrada
Kayden Karmazin
Jane Shim
Stephanie Good
Karen Gomez Morales
Jessica Carela
Diane Guerrero
Juan Arturo Garcia Rodriguez
Amanda Delgadillo
Sayra Campos
Maricruz Luna
Emily Duncan
Yumilka Velazquez
Karina Aguila
Angela Andrade
Perla Jimenez
Wendy Catalán Ruano
Daniel Martinez
Samantha Fonseca
Emilia Gutiérrez
Ileana Escoto
Katrina Thompson
Jazmine V
Isis S Eynon
Diego Navarrete
Livia V Paredes
Alma Sandoval Garcia
Eik-Noor Sidhu
Frida Albiter
Leslie Aguilar
Kayla Muhl
Leslie Ayala
Taylor Justine Jordan
Nathalie Fernandez
Katelyn Reynoso
Krista Herrera
ximena perez
Blanca Morales
JohnSteven Solis Diaz
Elmer G. Roldan
Aydi Ortiz
Andrea Fisher
Sophia Rivera
America Perez Guillen
Issac Kim
Kayla Arroliga Robles
Ivette Rafael
Grizell Alvarado
Alma Corado
Mitchell Stephens
Jessica Sanchez Galvan
Jin Park
Cecilia Flores
Stephanie Vidal
Carla Torres
Sandra Guzman
Angelina Aleman
Lorena Lozada
Chelsea Johnston
Harleene Bonales Castillo
Gloristela Morales
Flor rosales
Julia Rosales
Magybet Mendez
Daniella Altamirano
Joanna laurenzana
Carolina Banos Vargas
Gloria Vanessa Márquez
Karen Ragazzo
Gloria Márquez
Sherly Bonilla
Ali Hadiashar
Sarah Bluebonnet
David Padilla
Dulce Lopez Flores
Alejandra Ceja
Sol Tonalli
Daphne Hu
Adilene Hernandez
Atenea Manrique
Berenice Herrera
Adia Carroll
Emmy Larios
Sean m Pritchett
Kaylee Jianna Hernandez
Arturo Quiroz Ramirez
Michelle Paltin
Marilyn Rodriguez
Yadira
Marlena Backlar
Melissa Stone
Amila Puskar
Carolina Estrella
My Viet Thi Nguyrn
Diego Burbano
Hillary Lang
Mark Lopez
Miguel Avila Morales
Sandra Lobato
Alyssa Webb
Anna Rivera
Sophia Sandoval
Alicia Alvarado
Alyssa Lemus
Justine Miranda
Daniel Cruz
Juan Barrera
Katia Lopez
Allison Chu
Guadalupe Marin
Andrea Guerrero
Sofia Jaquez
Kristia Watkins
Susan Lema
Derek Aiello
Jessica Gomez
Sandra Arenas
Helen Mendizabal
Luis Maya
Lizbeth Gonzalez Bautista
Nancy Flores Sanchez
Jesus Balandrano Ramirez
Oliver Merino
Talia Malley
Luisa Carolina Martínez Castellanos
Berenice Tadeo
Aryanna Jimenez
Shaan Chatterjee
Aldair Arriola Gomez
Sameera Hafiz
Savannah Durr
Celeste Ramirez
Alma
Blanca Vazquez
Ashley Acklin
Jefte Abdias Hernandez Carrasquero
Sabryna Barrios
Ivy Ly
Catherine Lee
Susan Stone
Cinthia Cruz
Carol Orozco
Vicky Aguilera
Grace Treleven
Sergio Jimenez
Nicolle Alfaro
Leslie Gonzalez
Gisella Hernandez
Andrew Brewster-Geisz
Carolina Cossyleon
Samantha Hosier
Andrea Raez
Liliana Y. Moran
Diana Arenivas
Areli Orozco
Brenda Quintanilla
Mario Castaneda Martinez
Ivan Martinez
Linda C Guerrero
Megan Brandon
Alicia Christoff
Isabella Arias
Jennifer Aleman
Andrea Negrete
Brenda Quintanilla
Jacqueline Braslow
Alexis Rodriguez
Adi Barreto
Andrea Trevino
Joshua Kates
Elijah Von Duyke
Susan Nobblitt
Judith Garson
Lee Schimmel
Bruno Y. Hinojosa Ruiz
Lisa Pulling
Rachel Tholl
Alice Levine
Lainey Marie Bein
Judi Gardner
Laura Evelyn Lester
Yadira Guzman, Melanie Jones
Hannah Nitecki
Maggie Kinabrew
Ariel Cox
Lauren Wantz
Lisa Pulling
Rosa Enriquez
Adele McLees
Andrew Miles
Mercy Ude
Rachel Leiken
Gisel Cerano Paredes
Jo-Ann Huynh
Ilgin Korugan
Benyamin Chao
Katherine Huete
Amy Yu
Priyanka Ghosh
Alvin Dharmawan
Jinkyung Park
Jinkyung Park
Iliana Perez
Naveen Inim
Gladys Vargas
Supporting Organizations:
Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement
RAICES
Padres & Jovenes Unidos Action Fund
Haitian Bridge Alliance
Comunidad Colectiva
AHRI for Justice
Arizona Dream Act Coalition
Boston Children's Hospital
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
Community Power Collective
Compañeros Inmigrantes de las Montañas en Acción
Compton Tenants Union
Diana Diaz
DREAM Iowa
Hood Digest
I AM A DREAMER
Immigo Los Angeles
Immigrant Defense Project
Immigrant Justice Network
Immigrant Legal Resource Center
Indiana Undocumented Youth Alliance
Indiana Undocumented Youth Alliance
It’s glows visuals
La Peña Cultural Center
Latino Medical Student Association at Weill Cornell Medical College
Long Island Activists
Lxs Tigres del NorthEnd
Never Again
Never Again Action
North Texas Dream Team
Pangea Legal Services
PDA
SA RISE
San Diego Border Dreamers
Solidarity For Sanctuary
Soñar Sin Fronteras
Students for Migrant Justice
Trans Queer Pueblo
Undocumented Filmmakers Collective
Wolf of Madison
