Campaign Action
Donald Trump’s attempt to leapfrog over lower courts in order to put a stop to recent rulings that have allowed some Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) renewals to resume was denied by the Supreme Court this week, but it doesn’t lessen the urgency to pass permanent, legislative protections as soon as possible.
Even as renewals continue, without congressional action the rate of DACA recipients losing protections daily will increase dramatically after March 5. ”I go to sleep uncertain, and I wake up with the fear of losing my family,” said Osvaldo Rodriguez. He’s one of a dozen young immigrants and allies walking from New York City to Washington, D.C. to call on Congress to act:
Equipped with water, a change of socks and a smartphone, Rodriguez and 16 other people walked through the Garden State live-streaming their journey.
He and his cohorts delivered updates and shared their stories Saturday along the 17-mile walk.
There’s Ricardo Cruz Ramirez, 32, who was brought to the country as a toddler from Mexico. He lacked legal status until his 20s when he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and he fought his case in the courts.
Nearly a decade later, Ramirez is a naturalized U.S. citizen. But his family members are not.
“I have a brother. He’s a DACA recipient. For this walk that we’re doing we are sending the message of a clean Dream Act, which protects the youth but not criminalize my parents,” he said. “I have a mother who is undocumented.”
Fernanda Madrigal, another DACA recipient and mom of a 5-year-old child, flew from California to participate in the walk. Madrigal said she had plans to take the LSAT and apply for law school, but Trump’s ending DACA last September threw her life—and future—into uncertainty. “I hope that people understand that this is our home,” she said. “We are fighting to stay home. This is where our families are.”
The “Walk to Stay Home” is the brainchild of The Seed Project, an organization fighting for permanent protections for undocumented immigrant youth. “We have built our homes here,” the groups states on its website. “This is where like trees, we have deep roots. We want to simply be at the home we have built. We belong here, we made our homes here, we have raised our families here, and we will traverse all terrains to protect it.” Since February 15, they’ve been walking those terrains:
The last time Rodriguez, 26, of Red Bank, made such a long trip was at age 10 when he crossed the Mexican-U.S. border with his parents.
His family built a new life in Red Bank. Rodriguez graduated from Red Bank High School, went to college for a few semesters and now owns a photography business.
Now he's embarking on another long walk — this time demanding protections that would allow him to remain legally in the country he calls home. He and other volunteers are lobbying for a "clean" Dream Act, or an immigration bill that isn't tied to a border wall or restrictions that could keep his parents from gaining legal status.
"All we have with us is water and backpacks, and we head down to D.C. to highlight this is no different than what our parents did when they first came with a dream," Rodriguez said.
Ramirez doesn’t remember much about being brought to the country, except that it was dark out. Throughout the day, he recalled how his mother spent days working in tomato fields in the South to provide a better life for him and his brother.
“I do it because my family,” he said. “I don’t want to lose them.”
And we don’t want to lose Dreamers, because this is their home. The Supreme Court did the right thing by allowing this to play out in lower courts, but 800,000 young people don’t deserve to live their lives from court decision to court decision and tweet to tweet. They deserve certainty in the form of permanent legislation, like the DREAM Act, without harmful provisions that allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to punish their families.
Remember: the Trump administration created this crisis when they terminated DACA on September 5, and they perpetuated it by rejecting multiple bipartisan deals that would have provided a permanent solution for Dreamers. The Trump administration, along with Republican leadership in Congress, has thwarted every attempt at a solution—they will be to blame if they fail here. Help keep up the pressure and support the walkers and 800,000 immigrant youth.