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June 17, 2024
The Honorable Joseph R. Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear President Biden:
As the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) turns 12 on June 15th and
faces an existential threat in the courts, we, the undersigned 127 national, state, and local
organizations and community leaders—who collectively represent millions of individuals and families across the country and work in virtually every locality in the U.S.—urge you to act now to provide affirmative relief to long-term undocumented residents of the United States.
The Biden administration has the authority to protect millions of families at serious risk of
separation by providing proactive protection and relief for individuals who have been here for decades, building their lives and communities here, raising their families, paying billions in taxes, working and contributing in countless ways to our country. Protecting long-term undocumented residents with affirmative relief is both a moral and political imperative.
Americans across the political spectrum strongly support commonsense, compassionate
protection from deportation and relief for individuals who have lived in our communities for a long time.
Specifically, you can immediately protect long-term undocumented residents through:
● Granting parole in place for spouses of U.S. citizens;
● Expanding and renewing Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for countries that already
meet the statutory requirements;
● Modernizing existing rules to provide relief for family caregivers (such as by establishing
an affirmative process for qualified undocumented individuals to apply for cancellation of
removal and adjustment of status); and
● Helping DACA recipients access employment visas (e.g., H-1B).
These proposals have the potential to benefit up to 3 million individuals currently without
protection, including hundreds of thousands of immigrant youth who could benefit from these policies. As many as 450,000 undocumented immigrant youth– or about 1 in 5 people eligible in the Senate’s 2023 Dream Act – stand to benefit from the outlined policies.
These policies are well within your executive power, which has been consistently utilized byboth Republican and Democratic administrations alike to grant life-saving relief to individuals and families. Moreover, these types of policies enjoy overwhelming support from the American people, who are eager to see action toward fixing our failed immigration system. This is an opportunity to draw a clear contrast to former President Trump and his allies’ xenophobic demagoguery and hateful anti-immigrant fear mongering. Bold affirmative relief is the answer to the real threat of a white supremacist agenda that seeks to collapse our entire legal immigration system through military raids across communities and mass deportation camps.
Millions of immigrant youth and mixed-status families continue to contribute actively to our nation’s prosperity while enduring the rise of a xenophobic agenda that has thwarted any bipartisan momentum for commonsense reform in this Congress.
Ultimately, we know that only Congress can pass legislative solutions that offer permanent
protections for the entire immigrant community, and we will continue to work toward that goal. Still, your administration has the power and authority to provide administrative relief to many long-term undocumented individuals in our community, protecting millions of American families and communities in the process. You can protect millions of people and keep American families together right now. We urge you, in the strongest possible terms, not to wait any longer but to act boldly, knowing you have the support of the majority of Americans to provide affirmative relief via executive action to individuals and families right now.
Sincerely,
United We Dream
Community Change Action
Acacia Center for Justice
AFT
ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal
All4Ed
America’s Voice
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
American Muslim Voice Foundation
Arkansas United
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)
Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC
Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence
ASISTA Immigration Assistance
Awake Brevard Action Alliance
Ayuda
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action
Bridges Faith Initiative
Brooklyn Immigrant Community Support
CAIR California
Care in Action
Caring Across Generations
CASA, Inc.
Center for Law and Social Policy
Center for Popular Democracy (CPD)
Central American Refugee Center (CARECEN-NY)
Central Florida Jobs With Justice
Church World Service
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)
Coalition on Human Needs
CommonDefense.us
Communities United for Status & Protection (CUSP)
Estrella del Paso (Formerly Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services Inc)
Faith In Action
Faith in Florida
First Focus on Children
Florida Immigrant Coalition
Florida Legal Services, Inc.
Florida Policy Institute
Florida Rising
Florida Student Power
Franciscan Action Network
Freedom Network USA
Friends of the Earth Action
FWD.us
Haitian Bridge Alliance
Human Rights Coalition of Alachua County
Human Rights First
Illinois Workers in Action
Immigrant ARC
Immigrant Children Advocates’ Relief Effort (ICARE)
Immigrant Defenders Law Center
Immigrant Legal Resource Center
Immigrants Rising
Immigration Hub
Immigration Law & Justice Network
ImmSchools
CAIR California
Care in Action
Caring Across Generations
CASA, Inc.
Center for Law and Social Policy
Center for Popular Democracy (CPD)
Central American Refugee Center (CARECEN-NY)
Central Florida Jobs With Justice
Church World Service
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)
Coalition on Human Needs
CommonDefense.us
Communities United for Status & Protection (CUSP)
Estrella del Paso (Formerly Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services Inc)
Faith In Action
Faith in Florida
First Focus on Children
Florida Immigrant Coalition
Florida Legal Services, Inc.
Florida Policy Institute
Florida Rising
Florida Student Power
Franciscan Action Network
Freedom Network USA
Friends of the Earth Action
FWD.us
Haitian Bridge Alliance
Human Rights Coalition of Alachua County
Human Rights First
Illinois Workers in Action
Immigrant ARC
Immigrant Children Advocates’ Relief Effort (ICARE)
Immigrant Defenders Law Center
Immigrant Legal Resource Center
Immigrants Rising
Immigration Hub
Immigration Law & Justice Network
ImmSchools
Indivisible
Jewish Community Action
Justice Action Center
Justice and Advocacy Ministries at Disciples Home Missions
Justice in Motion
La Union del Pueblo Entero (LUPE)
Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center
Long Island Immigration Clinic/Sisters of St. Joseph
Make the Road CT
Make the Road Nevada
Make the Road New Jersey
Make the Road New York
Make the Road PA
MALDEF
Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition
Mennonite Central Committee U.S.
MoveOn
Multifaith Voices for Peace & Justice Steering Committee
Muslim Advocates
NAKASEC
National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum
National Council of Jewish Women
National Domestic Workers Alliance
National Education Association
National Employment Law Project (NELP)
National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC)
National Immigration Law Center
National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice
National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund
National Organization for Women
National Partnership for New Americans
NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice
New American Leaders Action Fund
NextGen America
NM Comunidades en Accion y de Fe
Northern California Islamic Center
People’s Action
Planned Parenthood Action Fund
Poderistas
Prevention Institute
Justice Action Center
Justice and Advocacy Ministries at Disciples Home Missions
Justice in Motion
La Union del Pueblo Entero (LUPE)
Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center
Long Island Immigration Clinic/Sisters of St. Joseph
Make the Road CT
Make the Road Nevada
Make the Road New Jersey
Make the Road New York
Make the Road PA
MALDEF
Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition
Mennonite Central Committee U.S.
MoveOn
Multifaith Voices for Peace & Justice Steering Committee
Muslim Advocates
NAKASEC
National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum
National Council of Jewish Women
National Domestic Workers Alliance
National Education Association
National Employment Law Project (NELP)
National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC)
National Immigration Law Center
National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice
National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund
National Organization for Women
National Partnership for New Americans
NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice
New American Leaders Action Fund
NextGen America
NM Comunidades en Accion y de Fe
Northern California Islamic Center
People’s Action
Planned Parenthood Action Fund
Poderistas
Prevention Institute
Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network
RootsAction.org
SABA, Inc.
Save the Children
Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity, Holy Name Province
Sojourners
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC)
Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC)
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
The Children’s Partnership
The Episcopal Church
The New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice
The Restaurant Opportunities Center United (ROC United)
The Sikh Coalition
The Workers Circle
UndocuBlack Network
UnidosUS Action Fund
Unitarian Universalist Refugee & Immigrant Services & Education
Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice
United Farm Workers
United Parent Leaders Action Network (UPLAN)
Voices for Progress
Voices for Utah Children
Voto Latino
WeCount!
Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Center
Working Families Party
Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights
SABA, Inc.
Save the Children
Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity, Holy Name Province
Sojourners
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC)
Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC)
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
The Children’s Partnership
The Episcopal Church
The New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice
The Restaurant Opportunities Center United (ROC United)
The Sikh Coalition
The Workers Circle
UndocuBlack Network
UnidosUS Action Fund
Unitarian Universalist Refugee & Immigrant Services & Education
Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice
United Farm Workers
United Parent Leaders Action Network (UPLAN)
Voices for Progress
Voices for Utah Children
Voto Latino
WeCount!
Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Center
Working Families Party
Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights
