Rondell Treviño, Founder and President, Memphis immigration Project
On September 5, 2016, the Trump Administration decided to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program for more than 800,000 plus Immigrant Dreamers–the program itself officially rescinds in March 2018.
Congressional leaders in Washington, D.C. decided in late December that they wouldn’t pass legislation that would fix the DACA program until 2018. One of the main reasons why is because they believe they have plenty of time to deal with the issue.
The problem, however, is there is no such thing as “plenty time” for DACA recipients because every day 122 of them lose their protective status, which results in a loss of work authorization and being able to pursue higher education–all implications of crimes they didn’t commit.
Between September 5, 2016, and January 4, 2018 (this very day), 14,708 Immigrant Dreamers have lost their DACA status.
In other words, 14,708 Immigrant Dreamers have gotten their dreams taken away from them based on crimes they didn’t commit.
This is unjust. These Immigrant Dreamers shouldn’t be blamed for crimes participate in.
What can you do now to help?
- Pray. Please pray for legislation to be passed as soon as possible and for the Lord to give comfort and peace to Immigrant Dreamers living in fear.
- Speak Up. Please consider speaking up for Immigrant Dreamers on social media or even write an op-ed piece for your local paper.
- Don’t Forget. With all the issues going on around the country, the DACA issue can easily be forgotten and intentionally or unintentionally thrown under the rug. Please don’t forget about this important issue affecting hundreds of thousands of Immigrant Dreamers, daily.
- Seek to understand. Many know bits and pieces of the DACA issue from new outlets and what they read on social media and don’t fully understand what’s going on. Please seek to understand the entire DACA issue from a Biblical perspective. If you would like to pursue this through a one-on-one meeting, or through the phone, please reach out to us here.
- Call Your Congressman. Calling your Congressman and telling he or she that you care about the 800,000 plus Immigrant Dreamers at risk is very important. You can contact your Congressman here.
- Download STANCE App. Simply download the Stance app on your smartphone and send voice messages to your congressman and Senators urging them to protect Dreamers by passing legislation. This only takes 2-3 minutes to complete.Here’s how it works:Step 1: After downloading the Stance app and selecting it to open, you will come to the first screen, read, and select continue.
Step 2: You will then come to the screen that says “Find your Representatives” and you either can click on “Use my location” or “Enter address manually.”
Step 3: You will then come to a screen that allows you to pick one of your two US Senators or your Representative. Select the one you want to send a voice message to.
Step 4: You will then come to a screen that says “Tell your Rep/Sen where you stand and encourage them to act. Make it personal!” Then you simply hold down the pink colored shape and record sharing the message provided that says, “I’m calling today about ISSUE. This is important to me because REASON/STORY. And I encourage you to act.” After recording your message it’s sent to the Senators and Representative’s voicemail for he or she to hear.
Memphis immigration Project exists to engage issues of Immigration from a biblical perspective.
