Catholic immigration advocates are emphasizing that the Oct. 5 ruling by a federal appeals court — finding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is unlawful — sends another signal that permanent legislation is needed to protect young immigrants from deportation and put them on a path to U.S. citizenship.
On the 10th anniversary of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) — the 2012 executive order signed by then-President Barack Obama — the offices of District Three Youth & Adults Inc. on Wyckoff Avenue was as busy as ever with staff members assisting DACA recipients looking to file renewal applications.
Jessica Astudillo was in high school before she learned she was an undocumented immigrant. Her parents sat her down and told her the truth — they brought her to America from their native Ecuador when she was two years old.
Standing outside the U.S. Capitol pleading with lawmakers to grant her and her peers a path toward citizenship is not how Zuleyma Barajas pictured her life 10 years after she was granted a temporary solution to remain in the U.S.
In a meeting with Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on April 27, Gloria Mancilla explained the challenges she faces as a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient, including bi-annual background checks, inability to get loans, and uncertainty of status from administration to administration.
When Antonio Guzman-Diaz meets with senators on Capitol Hill about migration on Wednesday, April 27, he’ll anchor his appeal for change on the realities migrants face: His own, as a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient, and those in his community, forced to flee dire circumstances in their home countries.
The question of whether citizenship should be a requirement to vote is headed for state court, now that a group of Republican lawmakers has sued to stop New York City from implementing a law permitting noncitizens to cast ballots in municipal elections.
Mario Ramirez of Milwaukee helped carry part of a homemade statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe that bobbed in the massive crowd headed toward the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building Sept. 21.
Now that passing immigration reform measures in the budget reconciliation package may be off the table, immigration advocates fear a divided Congress won’t stray from party lines to pass immigration reform through traditional means.
The U.S. bishops’ migration committee chairman Sept. 15 welcomed a move by House members to include language in the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill to provide a pathway to U.S. citizenship for beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and other immigrants.
