It’s been six months since President Donald Trump moved to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that protected nearly 800,000 undocumented immigrants who came to America as children, and there is no fix yet to a problem that Trump himself created six months ago when he ended DACA by this executive action.
“Centro Hispano of Dane County fully supports a clean, permanent solution, for Dreamers and ALL immigrant families,” said Karen Menendez Coller, executive director of Centro Hispano, in a statement. “DACA has helped youth in our community access education and employment, contribute to the greater Dane County community, and, most importantly, to live without fear that they will be ordered to leave the country they call ‘home.’”
DACA, which provides protections for young immigrants brought into America illegally as children, was supposed to terminate Monday. However, a number of court rulings have blocked Trump from ending the program. Centro Hispano is hosting a press conference today at their 810 W. Badger Rd. location at 3:15 p.m. to ask for action from elected representatives and to talk about action steps moving forward.
“We appreciate the strong support of the City of Madison, County of Dane, and allies across the states as we continue to work alongside a community that deserves better,” Menendez Coller said. “We count on our elected officials, community organizations and all friends and allies to stand together to support our youth.
“Our youth and their families deserve better than a life in limbo,” she added. “DACA symbolically ends today – attempts at bipartisan legislation have failed and now our families are left to rely on court injunctions requiring the renewal of existing DACA permits to be resumed, but which could end any day.”
Protests in support of the 800,000 DACA recipients started earlier today at the National Mall to mark the deadline.
