With DACA safe for now, advocates urge beneficiaries to use 'the extra cushion' and renew early
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The Supreme Court’s refusal this week to fast track the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) case was a blow to the Trump administration and has bought program beneficiaries more time to renew their protections—and immigrant youth leaders are cWith DACA safe for now, advocates urge beneficiaries to use 'the extra cushion' and renew early
The Supreme Court’s refusal this week to fast track the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) case was a blow to the Trump administration and has bought program beneficiaries more time to renew their protections—and immigrant youth leaders are calling on them to not waste any of that time. The administration had been trying to leapfrog the legal process and go straight to the Supreme Court to challenge lower court decisions that had partially resurrected DACA. Following the Supreme Court declining that demand, the case will most likely now be heard in the fall—meaning a decision could come in the first half of 2020—giving beneficiaries a precious buffer to get renewed two-year permits under their belts. “I thought for me this was going to be my last go around for the program,” said Sheridan Aguirre of United We Dream (UWD), the largest immigrant youth-led organization in the U.S. “Thankfully, we have the extra cushion.” Greisa Martinez, another UWD leader, ”said she’ll be getting her application in by next week. Her DACA was set to end in June.” The group has created a hub to assist DACA recipients with the process. While the importance of DACA cannot be overstated, it doesn’t change the fact that immigrant youth shouldn’t have to keep living their lives from court decision to court decision, worried that their current work permit might be their last. What immigrant youth need is certainty, and while DACA has been life-changing, it doesn’t match permanent relief in the form of a pathway to citizenship. What immigrant youth also know is that the current immigration “deal” from the Trump administration is a deal only for its white supremacist agenda, trading some DACA recipients’ temporary protections for a permanent wall, devastating changes to asylum, and generating more money for detention and mass deportation agents. “No way,” said Martinez. And, renew, renew, renew. Read more