Pax Christi USA welcomes the Supreme Court’s decision today which protects Dreamers, but we also echo the voices of Dreamers themselves in saying that this is a temporary victory — one to celebrate, but also one that we must build on.
“The cruelty of the Trump Administration’s attempt to end the protections of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, have been arrested by the Court’s ruling, but we must continue the struggle for immigration policies that promote human flourishing, not suffering, and address the deep, underlying root causes of immigration,” stated Bishop John Stowe, Pax Christi USA Bishop-President. “We are inspired by the courage of Dreamers and our immigrant communities, and we draw our hope from their witness.”
In her November 2019 article on Pax Christi USA’s website, Arlin Karina Téllez Martínez, a DACA participant herself, challenged us: “DACA has become an essential need for nearly 800,000 undocumented immigrants. … but our fight is beyond DACA. … We know that the anti-immigrant and white supremacist administration never cared about the legality of DACA but in fact cared about the continued suppression of immigrants of color with a working class background.”
In the wake of today’s decision, we join with our partners in the Justice for Immigrants campaign of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops in calling for the passage of the Dream Act to give a path to citizenship for Dreamers and extend today’s victory.
As we move forward, Pax Christi USA offers our support and solidarity to all those who seek to tear down walls, demilitarize our borders, dismantle systemic racism, and free those who have been detained. We celebrate today’s ruling and pledge to continue the work.
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Great victory! But while we call to “demilitarized our borders” let’s remember that your call to pass the Dream Act includes the further US militaring of other lands because one element for full citizenship under this act is participation in the US military. Clearly the Dream Act is a devil’s bargain. Please, we can do better than that!!