For Immediate Release: June 15, 2021

Contact: press@wearehome.us

We Are Home Campaign Celebrates Nine Years of DACA, Calls on Congress to Provide Citizenship for Millions

Washington, D.C. – Today, the We Are Home campaign joins in celebration of the nine-year anniversary of DACA, the immigration movement’s largest victory in recent history. Nine years ago, an immigrant youth-led campaign pressured President Obama to fulfill his campaign promise of providing deportation protection to young immigrants, and it has since become a successful program that has provided relief and a chance to work legally to hundreds of thousands of young immigrants across the country.

The We Are Home campaign also acknowledges the legal challenges facing DACA and an impending decision on the program’s future from Judge Andrew Hanen in Texas, which is why we’re calling on Congress to do right by immigrant youth, as well as millions of TPS-holders and essential workers, and provide them a path to citizenship and permanent protection this year.

Bridgette Gomez, Campaign Director for the We Are Home Campaign issued the following statement:

“Nine years ago, immigrant youth and their allies fought to stop deportations of their peers and pushed President Obama to implement the DACA program, an incredible achievement that has improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of young people within our community. DACA, and the fight to keep the program alive amid countless attacks from Republican lawmakers and judges, is a testament to the power the immigrant rights movement has built.

But the reality is that DACA is not permanent. It does not provide a path to citizenship and has also left millions of immigrants without protection and vulnerable to deportation. It is time for Democrats to use their power to push for citizenship not only for DACA-recipients, not only for millions more who also deserve peace of mind, but for the rest of the American people who demand change. Republicans have made it clear that they’re not good faith actors and will not move forward on any legalization without cruel and unnecessary enforcement.

The American people are behind us. The last year has shown us that immigrants are essential to our country’s future, and the time for citizenship is now.”

Greisa Martinez Rosas, Executive Director of United We Dream, said:

“After experiencing first-hand the continued threat of being targeted and deported by ICE and CBP, immigrant youth took action alongside our allies to fight for and win DACA during the Obama administration. Since then, we have fought to protect our communities against Republicans’ cruel and vindictive attacks to put millions of our loved ones on the path to deportation.

As we speak, Republicans are leading a lawsuit in Texas to end DACA while their allies in the Senate continue to hold citizenship bills that the vast majority of Americans support hostage. When given the opportunity to do what is right, Republicans have shown us that instead they will vote against the Jan.6th commission, emergency relief for millions in a deadly pandemic, they will strip communities of unemployment benefits, suppress voting rights, and attack immigrants. Democrats cannot allow Republicans to keep progress from happening this year. Democrats can and must lead on their own through the reconciliation process.

As we celebrate nine years of our power in winning and protecting DACA, we must remember that DACA is temporary, and our communities need and deserve permanency through a pathway to citizenship.”

We Are Home is a nationwide campaign to fight for immigrant communities on three fronts: prioritizing and demanding a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in America; a moratorium and overhaul of interior enforcement; and broad affirmative relief from deportation. We Are Home is co-chaired by Community Change/Community Change Action; National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA)/Care in Action; Service Employees International Union (SEIU); United Farm Workers/UFW Foundation; and United We Dream.

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