Halt to Deportation for ALL DREAMers
(WASHINGTON)—The Obama Administration today made the dream come true for DREAM students by immediately halting deportation for children who were brought to America by their immigrant parents and want nothing more than to continue their American dream.
“Today’s decision is a huge victory for these courageous young men and women. It grants them the opportunity to resolve their immigration status and work toward citizenship so they can continue giving back to the country they call home,” said Rich Stolz, Interim Director of the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM). “This action makes sense, not only because it upholds basic notions of fairness, but because it is fully within the President’s authority. We commend the Obama Administration for halting the deportation of young people whose parents brought them here as children. Now they can work on making their other dreams come true.”
“These children are American in every way, except for paperwork. They should be rewarded, not deported, for enrolling in school or joining the military so they can stay in their adopted country to study and work,” Stolz added.
“We have seen too many examples of young people full of potential facing deportation because they were not born in this country,” said Angelica Salas, Executive Director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in Los Angeles, a member of FIRM. “As our opponents make every effort to demonize and dehumanize immigrants, it is a tremendous victory that the Obama Administration is showing America that immigrants and their families simply want to take part fully in American life, and want to give back to their adopted country. We will fight to defend this principled and important announcement.”
“The Obama Administration has also shown that it values keeping families united here in America as they work toward a path to citizenship. We hope the administration will continue on this forward path toward comprehensive immigration reform, and we will work with the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies to ensure that the policy is implemented successfully to bring real relief to young people and hope for their families,” Stolz said.
FIRM is a network of community-based immigrant advocacy organizations in 30 states.
Fair Immigration Reform Movement 