June 18, 2020

CONTACT: Daniel Ball, dball@bds.org

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***

BROOKLYN DEFENDER SERVICES STATEMENT ON THE SUPREME COURT’S DACA DECISION

(BROOKLYN, NY) – Brooklyn Defender Services, a public defender office that provides immigration legal services to thousands of people each year, including many who are eligible for or have already obtained DACA status, released this statement following the Supreme Court’s ruling on DACA:

“Today’s decision is a victory for DACA recipients and their families who now have the assurance they will not lose this crucial status. This ruling allows those who have been granted DACA status to continue to work, go to school and to stay in the country in which they have lived since childhood without fear of deportation. We applaud the many DREAMers who organized, spoke out and made themselves known, putting themselves at personal risk of deportation, to lead the way to create and protect this program.

As Chief Justice John Roberts recognized in his decision for the Court, the Trump Administration’s attack on DACA was capricious and arbitrary and failed to recognize the interests of hundreds of thousands of DACA recipients. The Trump Administration must now restore the DACA program. Brooklyn Defender Services stands ready to assist eligible DREAMers in obtaining and renewing status, fighting deportation, and finding pathways to stable, permanent, and protected legal status.

We cannot stop here. We urge Congress to enact immigration laws to make DACA a permanent program to obtain lawful status. In doing so, we also urge that Congress create a pathway to citizenship for DREAMers, TPS recipients and other currently undocumented immigrants who came to this country looking for opportunity, safety and to be with their loved ones.

We, as a society, must be steadfast in our commitment to DREAMers and all immigrants, whether currently documented or not. The current racist, unjust, and unfair immigration system must be radically transformed. As people across the country rise up for Black lives and against structural racism, we must use the energy from this moment to continue to fight against all oppressive systems that threaten people’s most basic rights.”

Background:

Brooklyn Defender Services signed on to an amicus brief in support of the respondents in this case, available here.

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Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS) is a non-profit public defense office in Brooklyn, New York. BDS provides multi-disciplinary and client-centered criminal defense, family defense, immigration and other civil legal services, and social work support to over 30,000 indigent Brooklyn residents every year.