For Immediate Release
November 5, 2015
Contact: SG Sarmiento, sgsarmiento@ndlon.org
NDLON REACTION: Following Decision, Onus is Back on President to Take Action
Los Angeles, CA—In response to the 5th Circuit Court’s decision to uphold the injunction blocking implementation of DAPA and DACA 2.0, Pablo Alvarado, Executive Director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) issued the following statement:
“The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals got it wrong today. But this is not the last word from a court on this issue. It will only amplify the call to action for immigrant workers and families. Their demand for justice, equality and a decent life must not be obstructed by more delays and political wrangling.
“President Obama spent years enacting a brutal deportation policy, and waited far too long to announce DAPA. He should not compound that error by delaying an appeal of this erroneous decision, nor should he allow the coarsening of political rhetoric about immigrants to deter him from taking additional steps using existing authority to ameliorate the injustice facing immigrants.
“Just as the choice was never between ‘comprehensive immigration reform or administrative relief,’ the choices facing the President today are not ‘DAPA or nothing.’ The President’s own misguided deportation policy contributed to the criminalizing rhetoric we are now hearing from Republican candidates, and we hope his actions going forward are not guided by partisan politics. Immigrants have been scapegoated and used as an election issue for too long. The President should use his remaining months in office to undo much of the damage he did by pursuing a failed ‘CIR or nothing’ strategy.
“The Fifth Circuit got one thing right in recognizing that undocumented immigrants must have a voice in this lawsuit. We welcome the court’s decision to allow immigrants represented by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) to intervene. This lawsuit is, in the end, a dispute between 26 nativist governors and the ‘Deporter-in-Chief.’ The three undocumented immigrants represented by MALDEF carry with them the interests and hopes of 11 million immigrants who deserve political equality. While equality demands relief from unjust deportation and access to work authorization papers, it also requires equal access to redress from harm in federal courts. I have no doubt Jane Does 1 through 3 will ultimately prevail.”
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