AFT President Randi Weingarten on the Supreme Court Decision to Grant Certiorari on DACA case

WASHINGTON—Statement of AFT President Randi Weingarten on the United States Supreme Court decision to grant a writ of certiorari in the legal challenge to the Trump administration’s termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program:

“While the Trump administration makes a daily horror show of turning immigrant lives into political footballs and turning a blind eye to the immoral conditions at the border, it’s important to remember our DACA brothers and sisters’ fate is still hanging in the balance. DACA recipients are our friends, neighbors and colleagues. They are teachers, nurses, college professors and public employees. They are part of our national identity, and they play a critical role in our communities and in our economy. The 800,000 young immigrants in this country who have DACA status work hard to fulfill a dream their parents could only imagine, all while living day to day in a political purgatory. Trump’s effort to deprive DACA recipients of their full potential belies everything our country and Constitution stand for.

“The AFT is proud to be one of the many organizations involved in the legal challenge to the Trump administration’s hateful attempt to end DACA. The decision to terminate the program—which could result in the deportation of nearly a million young people who have only known the United States as home—is not just unconstitutional, it’s inhumane. The U.S. Supreme Court has an opportunity and an obligation to uphold the Constitution and reaffirm the lower courts that have rightfully rejected this administration’s cruel attempt to end this program; with this decision to hear the case, they took the first step toward doing so. It is an important check on the White House’s hateful anti-immigrant agenda.

“Not only are many AFT members immigrants and beneficiaries of DACA, we also teach and care for immigrant children and their families every day. We must continue to uphold that commitment, and we vow to stand up for Dreamers, DACA recipients, those with temporary protected status, and their families, and to do everything in our power to protect the rights of immigrants in this country—not just as the Supreme Court moves forward to decide the fate of DACA, but every day, as this president works to marginalize immigrants and further divide us.”