DACA Digest: September 30, 2017
Curated news from the DACA Time team
Each week, the DACA Time team provides you with curated news and stories related to DACA and immigration to help raise awareness of the problems we’re trying to solve and the people we’re trying to help.
Raising awareness is a crucial component of social impact:
- How can you change something no one knows anything about?
- What support systems already exist for the folks we’re trying to help?
- Where do we see examples of success that inspire us?
- Perhaps most importantly, what victories, no matter how tiny, can we celebrate this week?
Beyond the social enterprise space, beyond those directly impacted by DACA and its far-too-often arduous application process, answering these questions helps us better understand how our actions are all connected.
Dreamer Stories
It might sometimes seem difficult to separate the politics surrounding DACA from the humanity of Dreamers. Just like United States citizens, they are students, engineers, entrepreneurs, and teachers.
Dreamers’ stories are important. It may be easy for some to consider upending the lives of an entire demographic represented in raw numbers and buzzwords; it’s much harder to look another person in the eyes and tell them, “I don’t care about your livelihood; you don’t belong here.”
Splinter offers us the story of the Dreamer who inspired Senator Dick Durbin to introduce the DREAM Act:
While Lee is now a United States citizen, those Dreamers who remain undocumented continue to face an uncertain future. Rodrigo Mendoza, for example, is putting on hold a long-awaited home purchase in the face of that uncertainty.
Individual Dreamers continue to contribute both to the ongoing narrative surrounding DACA and its fate as well as to advocacy and mentorship.
DACA Information and News
DACA’s renewal deadline is almost upon us. USCIS must receive applications by October 5 for anyone for whom DACA expires before March 5, 2018, and, as the LA Times reports, those eligible are racing against the clock.
The deadline remains steadfast despite requests for an extension, resulting in outrage and one New York judge proclaiming, “It’s unacceptable, quite frankly, to me, as a human being and as an American.”
Every industry in the United States will in some way be affected by the rescission, including the food industry, which reportedly employs 16% of DACA recipients.
And in broader news, reports are coming in of an official Border Patrol memo ordering officers to detain DACA recipients as a matter of course at checkpoints.
Legislative Updates
A new Republican-led bill was introduced to the Senate this week, called the SUCCEED Act.
Meanwhile, Democrats continue their push push for the DREAM Act…
… although one of the bill’s co-sponsors in the Senate acknowledges that progress working with the White House is slow as pressure mounts to combine any bill with border security measures.
Nevertheless, as Dreamers’ collective focus inevitably shifts from the rush to renew to advocating for legislation, pressure for congress to act will become more intense in the weeks to come.
Services and Support
As the renewal window for DACA comes to a close, stories of support have been widespread, from Mission Asset Fund raising millions of dollars to cover renewal costs to more local efforts to assist communities’ Dreamers.
The support is understandable, as recent polls show that a vast majority of Americans support DACA and its protections and benefits, a further ray of hope that the future will provide a pathway to prosperity and success for our nation’s Dreamers.
DACA Time is here to help. Please let us know how we can best support your communities during this troubling time. We’d love to hear from anyone who has ideas or needs, and you can reach out to us on Facebook or through the contact information you can find on our website.
