When Make the Road Nevada (MRNV) organizer LaLo Montoya’s family entered the US from Mexico, he was just a 2-year-old. It was only in 2012 that LaLo Montoya was protected from getting deported through the so-called DACA program. For the uninitiated, it was the Barack Obama government that made the program into law. It lets an immigrant youngster called a Dreamer, who entered the nation illegally, apply for a two-year renewable work authorization without deportation.
Federal judge Andrew Hanen from Texas not only deemed the program illegal, but he also instructed the Joe Biden government to stop DACA applicants. Therefore, other immigrants who seek refuge in this nation may be incapable of following the same path as LaLo Montoya.
Judge Hanen’s order may not affect present DACA recipients, but Montoya claimed that it has made those who pursue DACA status be in an uncertain state. A recent lawsuit from Texas’s Attorney General Kenneth Paxton Jr. and eight non-Texas states spurred the ruling. They claim that the other US states, including Texas, bear negative consequences in safeguarding the interests of DACA recipients. Some of those repercussions are law enforcement-, education- and healthcare-related costs.
Montoya stated that he remembered moments from when he was an illegal alien through the duties he needed to quickly take on. Montoya translated communication between his father and mother, a construction staffer and cleaner, respectively, and teachers or doctors. Besides the translation role, Montoya helped to look after his younger siblings. As for Montoya, the above-mentioned is different from the situation of other immigrant households.
Montoya stated that those DACA recipients who are applying to get the first-time status became mature with the same responsibility. Therefore, Montoya described the psychological attack on those people as cruel. As for Montoya, they have done whatever they are demanded to do, and that they are US citizens completely save on paper.
As per the USCIS, the active DACA recipient count in the nation is 616,030 as of this March. On the other hand, the number of DACA recipients in Nevada is 11,720, the majority of who are Clark County residents.
An undocumented immigrant from Las Vegas who is looking for the first-time status, got a DACA appointment scheduled a week into the ruling. We would not mention the name of the immigrant, as the student wanted to stay anonymous, fearing deportation. The ruling not only annoys the speech pathologist aspirant cum social worker but also raises concerns about immigrant safety. The student stated that Dreamers should feel safe and have a way of achieving citizenship, as they have been in this nation since childhood.
As for Dream Big Nevada’s Executive Director Astrid Silva, the USCIS delivered cancellation emails and text messages to the new applicants. For your information, Silva’s Dream Big Nevada is a nonprofit group that helps immigrant families. Silva recently revealed through Twitter that scheduling the appointment took half a year for her and a potential DACA recipient’s mother. More remarkably, the speed with which the appointment got canceled undermined the six-month delay.
Silva stated that while it takes the USCIS a long time under a positive scenario, the government agency did not even take a weekend as it was a negative case this time. As for Silva, it served as a reminder of the lack of a long-lasting solution, no matter which administration the US has.
President Biden stated that the Justice Department would not only defend Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals but also appeal the ruling. At the same time, Biden said that Congress could decide on whether to make the said type of solution. Biden expects that Congress would offer security to every Dreamer, who has lived an excessively long period in fear.
Describing it as a wrong federal ruling, Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada stated that the ruling created uncertainty about DACA applicant safety. Masto also stated that counteracting the decision requires senators to pass the so-called American Dream and Promise Act (ADPA). For your information, the enactment of the above-mentioned law would make the status of being a permanent resident possible for immigrants.
As for Masto, DACA encouraged Dreamers to contribute to their communities in ways that could not be measured, and that includes serving in the military and acting as frontline COVID-19 warriors. Senator Jacky Rosen also supported pieces of legislation that would let immigrants get full citizenship. As for Rosen, immigration reform-related legislation should be passed through any possible ways, which include budget reconciliation.
Nevada’s Democratic Representatives, Dina Titus, Susie Lee, and Steven Horsford took to social media and revealed that they oppose Hansen’s ruling. On the other hand, the lone GOP of the state delegation, Republican Mark Amodei, did not talk about the decision.
In the recent past, Nevada Senate Democrats announced a budget reconciliation-related bill worth $3.50 trillion. Montoya expects that the recent measure would be passed, and that it would have a new pathway to US citizenship for essential workers, Dreamers, farmworkers, and Temporary Protected Status holders.
Describing immigrants as an element of Nevada’s fabric, Montoya stated that people like him could no longer wait for citizenship. Montoya was addressing a recent rally on citizenship around Las Vegas’s Foley Federal Building.
