Statement from Hispanic Federation President and CEO Frankie Miranda on CDACA's 10th Anniversary
“On June 15, 2012, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, better known as DACA, was announced as a temporary program to provide protection from removal from the United States and work authorization for recipients. The program was meant to be a placeholder until Congress passed legislation that would provide this group of immigrants with a pathway to citizenship.
Since then, we’ve watched as brave, undocumented immigrant youth stepped forward to put their names and addresses in the hands of immigration officials for a chance at a better life - an opportunity to work legally and slowly lift their heads out of the shadows. Ten years later, Congress has failed to pass legislation to help these individuals who arrived under the age of 16, have no criminal record, and are obtaining an education or serving in the military. While DACA was meant as a temporary fix, it has had life-changing effects for over 600,000 recipients and millions of their family and community members. While living in a constant state of anxiety, existing in immigration limbo, many individuals who obtained DACA as teenagers or young adults have built families, businesses, and transformed communities across the country.
Through various legal challenges, and biennial renewals, DACA has survived and provided recipients with careers and financial stability. DACA recipients have faced a perpetual uphill battle, but continue to fight, move forward, and make progress in their lives. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when our country was reeling from the rapid spread of a new disease that was taking the lives of our friends and families, over 200,000 DACA recipients worked to protect the health and safety of everyone residing in the United States. As essential workers, they educated our country's youth, worked on farms, factories, and grocery stores to feed us, took care of our children, served as doctors, nurses, and medical workers who put their lives on the line to help heal and protect us - and continue to provide these essential services, helping our country in its recovery.
For more than a decade, we’ve imagined a world beyond DACA, one that provides permanent fixes to a broken system - fixes that better communities, society, and this country as a whole. Hispanic Federation stands committed to defending DACA, the program’s recipients, and ensuring that we will have permanent immigration protections that will create a true path forward to finally provide stability and peace of mind for our nation’s dreamers.”
When the DACA program was created, Hispanic Federation immediately set up a scholarship fund to pay for the application fee - which has increased from $465 to $495 - eventually providing about 1,000 young immigrants DACA application scholarships with a $500,000 investment. Hispanic Federation has also provided legal assistance for DACA screenings, applications, and renewals, dreamer tuition scholarships, and numerous DACA public education campaigns over the past ten years. For more information, people eligible for DACA can visit www.hispanicfederation.org/dacascholarship/
####
About Hispanic Federation
The Hispanic Federation (HF) is a nonprofit membership and advocacy organization, founded in 1990, with a mission to empower and advance the Hispanic community and a focus on low-income, marginalized and immigrant Latinos. With offices in New York, Connecticut, Washington, D.C, North Carolina, Florida, Puerto Rico, and additional programs in 41 states, its program focus areas include immigration, economic empowerment, civic engagement, disaster relief, philanthropy, education, health, and the environment. HF also maintains ongoing public education campaigns and meets the organizational development needs of its member agencies through grant-making and capacity-building assistance.
