Immigration advocates want pathway to citizenship for Caribbean DACA recipients

NEW YORK, CMC – Immigration advocates are calling for the United States government to provide a pathway to citizenship for Caribbean and other recipients as New York marks the 12th anniversary of the announcement of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme.

The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), an umbrella policy and advocacy organisation that represents over 200 immigrant and refugee rights groups throughout New York, said that for more than a decade the programme has been “a lifeline for over 835,000 DACA recipients who arrived in the United States at a young age for a chance to build out their future.

“Year after year, the DACA programme has provided temporary relief and opportunities for hundreds of thousands and has faced numerous legal challenges, including the most recent one at the 5th Circuit Court,” NYIC said.

It warned that the outcome of that court's decision could potentially lead to the elimination of DACA, destabilising 31,000 New Yorkers' lives while pushing them into the shadows.

“Now, as DACA continues to be under threat, it's long overdue for Washington to provide permanent relief for DACA recipients who have contributed to the social, cultural, and economic fabric of the United States”.

NYIC's senior communications associate, Diana Rodriguez Davila, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that, across the United States, “DACA empowered recipients like myself, enabling us to build meaningful futures, pursue educational opportunities and contribute to our communities.

“With DACA, it granted me the opportunity to achieve significant milestones that I never thought possible. I received my master's degree, developed my professional career and purchased my first car.

“It filled me with hope that I could achieve legal status in the only place that I have ever known as home through hard work and persistence. But now that hope is fading away.”

Davila said that as the legality of DACA continues to be dragged through courts, the fate of the programme is in jeopardy.

“It feels unfair and unnecessarily cruel that I could be ripped away from my family and home when Congress could take action to protect DACA recipients like me by providing a pathway to citizenship.”

Make the Road Action (MRA), another immigrant advocacy group in New York, said New York alone is currently home to 21,830 DACA recipients, many of whom it said are “integral Long Island community members.”

MRA said DACA recipients and their supporters have asked US Congressman Anthony D'Esposito “whether he will pledge to work for a legislative solution that gives all DACA holders the certainty they need through a path to citizenship or whether he stands with the side of the Republican Party that would prefer to see DACA recipients separated from their families and communities.”

D'Esposito represents New York's 4th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives and MRA said the majority of voters, 61 per cent, support lawmakers in the US Congress ensuring DACA recipients have access to a pathway to citizenship.

Since its enactment, MRA said DACA has “opened countless doors for undocumented people.

“DACA has given them access to better economic opportunities and higher education and safeguarded people from deportation.

“Yet, despite DACA's proven benefits, advocates and community members have had to fight non-stop to preserve the programme.”

MRA cautioned that the end of the DACA programme could bring “dire consequences to DACA recipients, their families and the country.”

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