Leadership Conference Sign-On Letter to President-Elect Trump Regarding DACA

WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 -- The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights issued the following advocacy letter to President-Elect Donald Trump:

Dear President-Elect Trump:

On behalf of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the undersigned organizations, we write regarding the Obama administration's executive action on "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals" ("DACA"). As you prepare to take office on January 20, we strongly urge you to keep the DACA program in place, so that Congress has a reasonable opportunity to adopt legislation to address this pressing human rights issue. Ending DACA - or worse, moving to deport any DACA recipients, also known as "Dreamers" - would do a grave injustice to hundreds of thousands of young immigrants raised in America, would undermine our economy, and would diminish our moral standing as a nation.

The DACA program, first announced in June 2012, provides a measure of common sense and compassion to immigrants who were brought to this country as children, have grown up here, and cannot rationally be blamed for their lack of legal immigration status. Since the program was first announced in 2012, approximately 750,0001 young adults who grew up in this country have registered with the federal government, submitted to background checks, paid fees, and have worked to obtain an education. In return, DACA recipients are granted a two-year reprieve from the threat of deportation, work authorization, and the ability to move on with their lives - making valuable contributions to the communities in which they live, to the businesses that rely on their skills and their willingness to work hard, and to our economy and social fabric as a whole. Many have gone on to raise families of their own, and a number of them have even volunteered to serve in our military. Simply put, DACA recipients are among the most sympathetic and compelling cases that exist under our immigration system today.

If you choose to move forward on your pledge to end this program, the disruption to these 750,000 lives, and to the people close to them, including lawful permanent residents and U.S. citizens, will be swift and severe. And because DACA also provides work authorization, its repeal would also cause significant upheaval to businesses that have grown to rely on the work of Dreamers, and the communities that benefit from their contributions.

Any move to deport Dreamers would be even worse. It is beyond question that the American public supports reasonable and fair immigration reforms, ones that include putting unauthorized immigrants on a path to citizenship - and this public would be deeply troubled by a decision to expel immigrants who, having arrived as minor children, have acted fully consistently with the best of American values and who are, for all intents and purposes, American. Induced by the Department of Homeland Security's promise not to use their information for enforcement purposes except for in very limited circumstances, DACA recipients submitted their personal information to that agency. It would be particularly inhumane for your administration to change that policy and use the information provided by DACA applicants in good faith against them or their families for enforcement purposes. It would also undermine the public's faith in our government. Needless to say, the impact of DACA deportations on families, employers, and communities would also be profound, and would diminish our values as a nation.

As such, your pledge to end the DACA program presents a tremendous policy, political, and moral dilemma. There is, however, a very reasonable intermediate solution. A bipartisan group of Senators and Members of the House of Representatives have introduced the "BRIDGE Act," which would provide Dreamers with a temporary reprieve from deportation on terms similar to DACA, but with the explicit backing of Congress. While we have strong moral reservations about legislation that does not provide Dreamers with a path to citizenship, and though the BRIDGE Act is no substitute for the comprehensive immigration reform our country needs, something must be done quickly to assuage the fear and anxiety of DACA recipients. The BRIDGE Act merits your unconditional support and we hope you will work with Congress to see it swiftly enacted into law and will maintain DACA until such a legislative solution can be reached and implemented.

Thank you for considering our request on this vital human rights matter. If you have any questions, please contact Wade Henderson, President & CEO of The Leadership Conference, at (202) 466-3311.

Sincerely,

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

9to5, National Association of Working Women

A. Philip Randolph Institute

Alliance for Citizenship

Alliance For Justice

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)

American Association of University Women

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO

American Jewish Committee (AJC)

American Psychological Association

America's Voice Education Fund

Anti-Defamation League

Arab American Institute

Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC

Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO (APALA)

Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum

Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO)

Association of University Centers on Disabilities

Bend the Arc Jewish Action

The Center for Law and Social Policy

Center for Reproductive Rights

Children's Defense Fund

Civil Rights Project

Coalition of Black Trade Unionists

Coalition on Human Needs

Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes

Democrats for Education Reform

Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund

Disability Rights International

Dream Action Coalition (DRM)

Earthjustice

The Education Trust

Equal Rights Advocates

Family Equality Council

Friends Committee on National Legislation

Forward Together

Futures Without Violence

Global Justice Institute

Hindu American Foundation

Hispanic National Bar Association

Human Rights Campaign

Human Rights Watch

Immigrant Legal Resource Center

Immigration Equality Action Fund

International Association of Official Human Rights Agencies (IAOHRA)

International Association of Women in Radio and Television USA, INC. (IAWRT)

Japanese American Citizens League (JACL)

Jewish Council for Public Affairs

Justice and Witness Ministry of the United Church of Christ

Justice Policy Institute

LatinoJustice PRLDEF

Latino Commission on AIDS

Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

League of Women Voters of the United States

League of United Latin American Citizens

Marianist Social Justice Collaborative Steering Committee

Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund

Metropolitan Community Churches

NAACP

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.

NAFSA: Association of International Educators

National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd

National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum

National Association for Bilingual Education

National Black Justice Coalition

National Center for Lesbian Rights

National Center for Transgender Equality

National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs

National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA)

National Council of Churches

National Council of Jewish Women

National Council of La Raza

National Down Syndrome Congress

National Education Association

National Employment Law Project

National Health Law Program (NHeLP)

National Hispanic Media Coalition

National Immigration Law Center

National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health

National LGBTQ Task Force

National Network for Arab American Communities

National Organization for Women

National Partnership for Women & Families

National Women's Law Center

NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice

OCA - Asian Pacific American Advocates

Oxfam America

People For the American Way

PFLAG National

Planned Parenthood Federation of America

PolicyLink

Self-Help Credit Union

Service Employees International Union

Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. (SIECUS)

Sisters of Charity, BVM

Sister of Mercy of the Americas

South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT)

Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC)

Southern Poverty Law Center

The Stuart Center for Mission, Educational Leadership and Technology

The United Church of Christ

United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW)

Transcend Legal

Union for Reform Judaism

Voices for Progress

Voto Latino

Witness to Mass Incarceration

Woodhull Freedom Foundation

YWCA USA

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1. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Data Set: Form I-821D Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, at http://bit.ly/2bhRSdj.

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