Dialogues in Activism kicks off with an examination of DACA and SB 4
Representatives from several prominent immigration advocacy groups discussed the history, evolution and current status of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, the effects of Texas Senate Bill 4 – the so-called “show me your papers” bill – and how their prospective organizations plan to deal with the ever-evolving developments in U.S. and Texas immigration policy during the first session in the 2018 Summer Dialogues for Activism Friday morning.
Jordan Buckley, of local immigration advocacy group Mano Amiga, was the emcee of the immigration panel entitled “DACA, DREAMers, & SB4.” Lined up to speak were DACA recipient Jose Caceres, who is a member of the University of Texas University Leadership Initiative which advocates and shares resources that help undocumented immigrants access higher education; Karen Munoz of Mano Amigo; and Michelle Sotolongo from the Student Community of Progressive Empowerment, (SCOPE), the first student organization officially recognized by Texas State University to serve and support undocumented and DACAmented students. Isabel Esparza, of SCOPE, moderated the panel.
DACA is an option for some undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children. President Barack Obama created DACA in June of 2012 by an executive order. And the program, in a five-year span, enrolled over 800,000 recipients, one of them being panelist Caceres.
“I remember when DACA was announced six years ago, it made a huge difference in my life,” Caceres said. “I was paying out of state tuition for college – which is basically three times as expensive as everyone else – which made it unaffordable for me and I couldn’t go to school. I remember thinking about going back to Guatemala for a minute. But then DACA was implemented and I was able to get a driver’s license, I was able to get a social security number and I was able to get a better job to help my parents.”
But the past few months have been an emotional roller coaster for Caceres and other DACA recipients. President Donald Trump rescinded the DACA program in September 2017, leaving thousands of DACA recipients in a precarious situation. And ever since then the program has been on unsure footing, with Trump’s rescinding of it working its way through the appeals courts.
In January, a San Francisco federal judge ordered the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to accept DACA renewals, but the ruling did not restart the ability for the USCIS to start taking initial DACA applications again. After the Supreme Court decided to not hear a case restarting DACA before the 9th Circuit Court Appeals, a Washington D.C. federal judge ruled that the Trump administration must start accepting initial DACA applications again, but does not require they be accepted until after 90 days to allow the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to explain why the DACA program was canceled.
Senate Bill 4 has also fluctuated in its legality since Gov. Greg Abbott signed it into law on May 7, 2017. With Federal Judge Orlando L. Garcia blocking the laws implementation two days before it was scheduled to go into effect. And then shortly after, an unanimous ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit reversed, leaving most of Senate Bill 4 in effect – except a provision in the law that stops local officials from “endorsing” policies aimed at curbing immigration enforcement.
Munoz said that Mano Amiga, which was started in the midst of SB 4, is currently working on understanding the relationship between local law enforcement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). But Munoz said many of the things that affect immigrants rights are often hidden and are difficult to understand without a law degree – things like understanding the difference between counties with 287(g) programs, that allow a state or local law enforcement entity to enter into a partnership with ICE, under a joint Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) and how local law enforcement plays into that.
“A lot of the work that we do is behind the scenes and involves research and trying to find information that is often hidden from people,” Munoz said. “The way laws like SB 4 work, is that it’s very complicated, and I think it’s complicated by design and on purpose. It makes it harder for immigrants and activists to know what to do, unless you’re a legal scholar.”
According to Munoz, Mano Amiga hopes to continue to inform local undocumented residents about their rights as immigrants, their rights with DACA and SB 4, and other immigration policies that may come along.
Sotolongo said SCOPE, founded in 2015 by undocumented and ally students at Texas State University, is currently working to provide protections, information and resources for undocumented students on campus. They’ve started a Bobcat DREAMer program at Texas State University that trains staff and faculty on immigration and DACA, so that undocumented students can have a safe place to speak openly and confidentially.
But, Caceres said, all these programs and resources compiled by organizations – from DACA to groups like Mano Amiga and SCOPE – are bandages on an immigration system that isn’t working.
“We need a permanent solution because DACA doesn’t offer any pathway to citizenship, and like we saw last September, it can be easily taken away,” Caceres said. “From my personal experience, I can tell you, I’m in some type of limbo.”
All Dialogues for Activism panels are free and open to the public. The next panel, which will discuss the recent Texas State University sit in that lead to the impeachment of former Student Body President Connor Clegg, will be on Friday, June 15 at 9 a.m. at the LBJ Museum of San Marcos, 131 N. Guadalupe St. It will be followed by a secondary panel at 10:15 a.m. on overcoming the School-to-Prison pipeline. For more information go to lbjmuseum.com.
