Title
Resolution to Urge President Obama and Ann Arbor’s State Legislators to Take Action to Protect Deferred Action for Child Arrivals Program Youth
Staff
Sponsored by: Councilmembers Kailasapathy, Eaton, Warpehoski and Frenzel
Body
Whereas, The Ann Arbor City Council stands in proud support of the rights of immigrant students and communities, as well as the principles of democracy and equality;
Whereas, The Deferred Action for Child Arrivals Program (“DACA”) enacted in 2012 by Presidential Executive Order has been characterized as the most important and far reaching immigration reform adopted during President Obama’s presidency;
Whereas, The DACA offered millions of youth the opportunity to come out of the shadows and to live free from fear of imminent deportation;
Whereas, Deferred action is a discretionary determination to defer removal action of an individual as an act of prosecutorial discretion; to be considered for this process an undocumented youth must show that:
• Came to the United States before reaching your 16th birthday.
• Have continuously resided in the United States since June 15, 2007 up to the present time
• Were under the age of 31 as of June 15, 2012.
• Entered without inspection before June 15, 2012, or had lawful immigration status expire before June 15, 2012.
• Are currently in school, have graduated or obtained your certificate of completion from high school, have obtained your general education development certification, or are an honorably discharged veteran of the Coast Guard or Armed Forces of the United States.
• Have not been convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanor, or three or more misdemeanors, and do not otherwise pose a threat to national security.
• Were present in the United States on June 15, 2012, and at the time of making the request for consideration of deferred action with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS).
Whereas, Entry into the DACA program offered undocumented youth a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and eligibility for a work permit;
Whereas, Submission of a request for deferred action for a childhood arrival to USCIS requires collection and submission to the government of all personal and familial information that could prove the person applying met the criteria for entrance to the program and hundreds of thousands of undocumented youth relied on the promises of the Obama Administration that the documentation provided would never be used against them or their families enrolled in DACA;
Whereas, DACA Youth took this grave risk in order to advance their own futures as well as their families and their communities;
Whereas, President-elect Trump has said he will terminate the DACA program and today, one of the most urgent tasks to defend undocumented immigrant youth is to urge President Obama that he use whatever available processes he may have at his discretion to protect from deportation the more than 740,000 DACA enrollees (according to Department of Homeland Security statistics) who have already provided the incoming administration with the background information to target them as the first selected for deportation;
Whereas, Abandoning DACA Youth would leave families in disarray and danger of being torn apart;
Whereas, In 2006, massive immigrant rights marches shut down cities, schools, factories, universities, docks and transportation in a successful action to defeated the anti-immigrant bill, HR4437; and
Whereas, Supporters of immigrant rights, democracy, and equality must continue to fight to protect DACA, build the immigrant rights movement, and strengthen our capacity to defend our communities;
RESOLVED, That the Ann Arbor City Council urges President Obama to exercise his presidential powers to protect DACA Youth;
RESOLVED, That Ann Arbor City Council urges its State legislators to support President Obama in any action taken to protect DACA Youth and to continue to support the protection of DACA Youth through their legislative offices; and
RESOLVED, That the City Clerk be directed to send copies of this Resolution to the Office of the President and the State legislators representing the people of Ann Arbor.