Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case involving the president’s effort to end protections for the approximately 700,000 people currently covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program.
DACA has prevented the deportation of children, students, teachers, and other workers who have contributed in innumerable ways to the greatness of the communities our members serve and to our nation. These young people have, for all intents and purposes, known no other country as home.
It would be wrong and hurtful to overturn DACA, just as it has been wrong and hurtful to continue to litigate the issue in the courts, leaving Dreamers to live in constant fear. This is especially unfair to students, who should be welcomed and included in our classrooms, regardless of immigration status. But it should also be noted that it is hurtful to their classmates, their teachers, their schools, and their cities and towns.
We continue to urge Congress to pass a bipartisan legislative solution that will protect Dreamers and provide certainty for students and educators. But we also hope that the Supreme Court will recognize the reality of this public-policy question: that there is a moral imperative that should override any narrow, technical legal issue. Dreamers should be free to learn, free from fear.
