DACA: What Now?
Legal advice for DACA recipients, personal advice for allies
Attorney General Jeff Sessions just delivered once of the most intellectually-dishonest, hypocritical, ignorant, and mean-spirited prepared statements I have ever seen from a public official in my lifetime. And we got angry.
Now let’s get moving. Legal advice for DACA recipients and personal advice for allies below.
LEGAL ADVICE FOR DACA RECIPIENTS
(1) You still have DACA, and will until the date printed on your card.
(2) DO NOT LEAVE THE UNITED STATES, WITH OR WITHOUT ADVANCE PAROLE. (Consider that one to be printed in 150-point bolded caps.)
(3) You still have the right to renew your current DACA status, and will until Oct. 5, 2017. Renew TODAY if you can.
(4) The only people immediately affected by today’s announcement are those who have never applied for DACA. Their window closed as of today.
(5) You still have a Social Security number, and will for the rest of your life. (It is not valid for employment without a current work permit, but many people don’t realize this.)
(6) If you originally entered the U.S. without a visa but have traveled on advance parole since receiving DACA, you may have additional legal options that you didn’t before. Consult a qualified attorney to review your situation.
(7) If you received DACA before you turned 18, you have never accrued unlawful presence in the United States. (Kind of. It’s complicated.) Consult a qualified attorney for more.
(8) If you know (or have reason to believe) that you had an outstanding order of deportation — typically because you missed an immigration court date, and in the case of most DACA recipients while you were a minor — consult with a qualified immigration attorney NOW. I don’t want to cause unnecessary alarm, but you are likely about to find yourself on ICE’s radar. You may have options, but you always have rights.
(9) DHS has indicated as of today that it will not be referring DACA recipients to immigration court for deportation proceedings once their status has expired. While I don’t trust the federal government’s word for anything, I mention this only to try to mitigate anxiety and remind you that (unless you have accrued an arrest record during your time in DACA status) ICE won’t be showing up at your door even once your status has ended. If they do choose to betray your trust, that news is far more likely to come in the mail than in person.
(10) If you are placed in deportation proceedings (again, most likely by mail): get a lawyer you can trust and FIGHT. Make the federal government prove its burden. Hold them to everything, and force them do the work. This system is already overloaded, and they are wasting massive amounts of time and taxpayer money to deprive you of your liberties. Remind them of that at every turn. Nothing can or will happen overnight, and it could be years — and a President or two — before there is any conclusion to your case. (N.B.: I am not advising or condoning the filing of fraudulent or frivolous applications. Consult with your attorney for specific strategy options.)
(11) Know your rights. Love your rights. Use your rights. Defend. Defy. Deny.
PERSONAL ADVICE TO U.S. CITIZEN ALLIES
(1) Give love. Send everything you can spare to your undocumented / #DACAmented friends, family, and neighbors today. Do them a kindness, whatever that means to you.
(2) Give space. Stay out of immigrant-led / undocumented spaces unless explicitly invited, and even then be prepared to support in respectful silence. The only people who need to hear your voice on this issue right now are your elected representatives.
(3) Give yourself. Show up. I specified “U.S. citizens” above because it is now on us — if appropriate and encouraged by the immigrant-led groups and movements taking point on this fight — to be prepared to volunteer ourselves for the front lines. Remember that even a relatively innocent police encounter can put a non-citizen (including greencard holders) at risk of detention and deportation. There are few places where you will be able to so effectively use your own privilege as you can here.
(4) Give money. Although I can’t possibly be objective about this as a board member, the Student Immigrant Movement is the best place in New England (and really anywhere in the East Coast if you ask me) to send your donations. SIM members were doing the hardest work that pushed President Obama to DACA. They were ready for this fight well before today’s announcement, and they are doing the real work on the ground to organize and prepare for what’s ahead. Please consider becoming a sustaining member today.
