The U.S. Supreme Court will convene on Monday for oral arguments in a case that could determine the fate of millions of undocumented immigrants hoping for relief from the looming threat of deportation.
At stake are two of President Obama’s executive actions — the Deferred Action for Parents and Americans (DAPA) and its sister initiative, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA+) — that sought to improve the situation for unauthorized immigrants in the absence of congressional action on the issue. DAPA and DACA+ would give immigrants with deep ties to the country more options to stay and work in the United States.
Everything You Need To Know About The Supreme Court Challenge To Obama’s Immigration PoliciesJustice by CREDIT: AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais Brownsville, Texas, is nowhere near the state capital in Austin…thinkprogress.orgBut after a group of GOP-led states sued the administration, the initiatives were blocked from taking effect. Now, the future of the two policies rests on the U.S. Supreme Court, and undocumented immigrants and their families are awaiting the high court’s decision with bated breath.
Some of those people have submitted their stories in an amicus curiae brief filed by the immigrant advocacy group United We Dream to the Supreme Court, explaining how they’ve already benefited from the 2012 iteration of the DACA initiative. It represents the first time in history that undocumented immigrants’ personal stories have gone all the way to the highest court in the country.
Ultimately, they hope that they can compel the justices to understand how the policies have changed their lives.
‘I’m nothing without my parents.’
Catalina Velasquez, a 28-year-old transgender woman, fled from Colombia to escape political persecution when she was 14 years old. She’s among the first wave of DACA beneficiaries, and she decided to join the amicus brief because having temporary legal presence in the country has changed her life.
DACA status has allowed Velasquez “to be visible and to provide after myself, to contribute to society,” she told ThinkProgress in a phone interview. As a transgender woman, that’s especially important for her security. “This is about my right to breathe and walk unapologetically in my truth. This is about self-determination and agency over my body, my future, my career, the ability to provide after myself,” Velasquez said.
Velasquez is now the director of Young People For, a project of the People For the American Way Foundation, and runs a consulting firm, which has allowed her to financially support her family.
But she’s all too aware of what deportation can do to the undocumented community. Her family was deported back to Colombia during her first semester at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service, a traumatic event that still makes her angry.
“I haven’t seen them since — it’s been over seven years,” Velasquez said. While she can legally work in the United States, international travel is still not allowed except under extremely limited circumstances, such as for education or business purposes or because of a death in the family.
Her family’s deportation “has psychologically scarred me and [done] irreversible psychological damage that I don’t want to see inflicted on other undocumented immigrants.” Now, she’s hoping her story can help people understand the damage that can stem from deportations that separate family members.
“As a DREAMer, I’m nothing without my parents,” she said. “You don’t just get to take my arm.”
Velasquez considers a positive outcome from the Supreme Court to be a “short-term bandage” that still requires a long-term solution. She’s right. Future presidents have no obligation to extend Obama’s executive actions and top Republican presidential candidates have all indicated that they would do away with them during their first term.
We’re more than human capital.
Still, Velasquez hopes that her submission could help the justices understand that immigrants are already contributors to society and can continue to grow the economy, if given a chance.
“As immigrants, we are rooted in the sociocultural fabric of U.S. society,” Velasquez said. “Our contribution and livelihood are at stake. I say that very intentionally. We’re more than human capital. While we are social capital, we are talents and values added to the economic system to the United States. We’re also lives, also people. It’s time for the United States to lead by example and also take responsibility over our terrible foreign policies.”
A June 2015 Center for American Progress report estimated that if both the DACA and its DACA companion initiatives were to be implemented, the U.S. economy would grow by $230 billion over ten years.
‘We’ve made our lives in this country and we plan on staying.’
More than two decades ago, Sheridan Aguirre left Mexico to reunite with his father in Texas. He grew up in the United States and only became aware of his undocumented status in high school, when he realized that he might have a difficult time pursuing higher education.
But as a DACA recipient, Aguirre has been able to take advantage of his ability to work — he’s a freelance videographer — and he now speaks out on behalf of other LGBTQ and undocumented students.
DACA has helped Aguirre feel more comfortable identifying with his dual identities as queer and undocumented, and he has been less afraid of being deported back to a country that doesn’t necessarily have friendly laws for LGBTQ individuals. At least 14 LGBTQ homicides were reported between January and April 2015 in Mexico.
Aguirre told ThinkProgress that he hopes that the Supreme Court justices will understand how DACA has “really helped me transition into my adult life.” Now that he can work, he can rent his own place and pay for costs associated with his college degree. He hopes that other undocumented immigrants will be able to have the same possibilities for pursuing economic stability.
We should stay here and thrive.
He also wants the justices to know that expanding work authorization for millions of undocumented immigrants is simply the right thing to do.
“Many of our families have been here for a long time,” Aguirre said. “Families that would be eligible for DAPA are eligible because they have ties to U.S. citizen children. We’ve made our lives in this country and we plan on staying…I believe we should stay here and thrive.”
Like Velasquez, Aguirre realizes that the impermanence of the DACA initiative is merely a patch for a broken immigration system. What he hopes is that a SCOTUS decision, whatever the end result may be, could serve as a “wake-up call” for the immigrant community.
“Now’s the time for all of us to come together and act,” he said. “DACA can be threatened and taken away, but if we come together and realize that there’s power in numbers, then we can fight back and push for some kind of relief. And even if we were to have a Democrat for president, the fight’s not going to stop there. Just because we’re granted DACA or DAPA doesn’t mean that we’ll be in some type of privileged space where we can afford to leave our immigrant brothers, sisters, and siblings behind.”