The historic civil rights organization NAACP has joined in the legal action against Donald Trump over his cowardly decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, “alleging that Trump violated due process, the equal protection clause and regular administrative procedures in deciding to end DACA,” a move that the organization says overwhelmingly affects young immigrants of color:
There are approximately 800,000 DACA recipients across the country, and more that would have been eligible for the program had it not been unnecessarily and unconstitutionally cancelled. The vast majority of DACA registrants and those eligible for DACA are people of color. More than 80% of registrants are of Mexican origin, according to the Migration Policy Institute; about 36,000 immigrants of African origin were also immediately eligible for the DACA program. Additionally, the report shows that over 20,000 youth from Caribbean nations of the Dominican Republic and Jamaica are eligible for DACA.
“By establishing DACA, the United States made a promise to protect its most vulnerable residents—young, undocumented immigrants, who are overwhelmingly people of color. In exchange for providing the government with extensive information about themselves and their families, these young immigrants received this country’s assurance that they could build lives for themselves in the United States without fear of prosecution or deportation,” said Derrick Johnson, interim President and CEO of the NAACP. “Now, President Trump has reneged on that promise.”
“By rescinding DACA,” Johnson continues, “President Trump puts hundreds of thousands of lives and livelihoods at risk. Immigrants and DACA registrants have been positive members of society; they contribute to community; they open businesses; they pay taxes and they are generally law abiding. But Instead of celebrating their contributions, President Trump is kicking DACA registrants and eligible people out of the country and upending their lives. This is not the American Way.”
As Trump is responsible for one of the most shameless days in American history by putting 800,000 young people at risk of being torn from the only country they’ve ever known as home, it’s local and national groups, colleges, state and local leaders, and everyday people who are resisting his nativism. In addition to the numerous DACA-related lawsuits facing the administration, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo announced yesterday that private donors and organizations have joined together to pay for the DACA renewal fee of every eligible Dreamer in the state.