World Relief Celebrates Supreme Court Ruling Challenging Trump Administration Attempt to Terminate DACA

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***
June 18, 2020

CONTACT:
Lauren Carl
Lauren.carl@pinkston.co
703-388-6734

BALTIMORE – Today, in a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court challenged the process by which the Trump administration sought to terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which since 2012 has allowed roughly 800,000 individuals who were brought to the United States as children to receive protections from deportation and employment authorization.  World Relief celebrates this decision, which, for now, preserves the jobs of and protects from deportation hundreds of thousands of young people.

“Our network of World Relief offices throughout the U.S. has helped to file approximately 4,300 applications for protections under the DACA program,” commented World Relief President Scott Arbeiter. “These young people have come forward at the invitation of our government, submitted to thorough background checks, paid fees and done everything that our country has asked of them. These protections are particularly important now while tens of thousands of DACA recipients are on the front lines fighting COVID-19 as essential healthcare workers. We are incredibly encouraged that these deserving young women and men will continue to have the opportunity to live in the communities they consider home.”

Last November, World Relief joined various other Christian organizations in submitting an amicus brief in support of the DACA program. We rejoice with the many DACA recipients and their families, including hundreds of thousands of U.S.-born children whose parents will retain their ability to reside and work lawfully in the United States.

Notably, however, while the Court’s decision rejects the manner by which the executive branch attempted to end DACA, it leaves open the possibility that this or another administration could terminate DACA in the future. As it has for many years, World Relief continues to call upon members of Congress to work together on a bipartisan basis to pass the Dream Act or similar legislation that would allow undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children the opportunity to earn citizenship in the country where they have grown up and which most consider their home.

World Relief SVP of Advocacy and Policy Jenny Yang said, “Dreamers are demonstrating what those of us who have known them personally have long understood: they’re an essential part of the American community. Many are on the front lines of caring for the sick and elderly as healthcare workers. They are members and leaders within local churches. They belong here, and even as we celebrate this decision from the Supreme Court, it remains urgent that Congress take action to codify that reality.”

World Relief’s network of immigration legal services programs stands ready to assist as many individuals as we can in determining what this decision will mean for them and to assist with applications for those who qualify. World Relief invites local churches and individuals to stand with DACA by providing financial support to subsidize the cost of these legal services, to ensure that as many individuals can access authorized, competent, affordable legal counsel as possible.

To learn more about DACA, visit World Relief’s website: https://worldrelief.org/daca-and-dream-act-101/. And for giving opportunities, visit: https://worldrelief.org/dreamers/

Download the PDF version of this press release.

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About World Relief

World Relief is a global Christian humanitarian organization that brings sustainable solutions to the world’s greatest problems – disasters, extreme poverty, violence, oppression, and mass displacement. For over 75 years, we’ve partnered with churches and community leaders in the U.S. and abroad to bring hope, healing and transformation to the most vulnerable.

Learn more at worldrelief.org.