Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, along with his counterparts from nine other states, recently sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions requesting an end to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The letter asserted that if the administration agrees to phase out the program by September 5, the states will drop the threats of a lawsuit against the federal government about the program.
Last month the U.S. Department of Homeland Security rescinded the Obama Administration's Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Legal Residents program. For now, DACA remains in effect, but its long-term fate, and that of the 788,000 people who hold DACA permits, is unclear.
It is extremely disappointing to see Paxton at the forefront of a movement to dehumanize and take away the valuable privileges that have been extended to DACA recipients, rights that allow them to come out of the shadows. Paxton and his co-signers refer to DACA holders as "otherwise unlawfully present aliens," words that are venomous daggers that puncture the humanity of these young people who, for the most part, have only known the United States as their home.
DACA recipients are upstanding young people whose parents brought them to the United States before the age of 16 and who were between the ages of 15 and 30 on June 15, 2012. To qualify for the program, they had to be students, high school graduates or veterans who had not been convicted of a crime and "do not otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety." These are not criminals that we are talking about.
The DACA program permits participants to come out of the shadows, to better themselves and to make favorable contributions to their communities, states and nation. Work permits allow DACA holders to earn fair wages, pay taxes and put to use their experience, credentials and degrees.
Without the allowances that the DACA program grants, DACA recipients would be barred to the margins of society, with no access to higher education, facing exploitation and subpar wages in the underground workforce. This is exactly where Paxton seeks to put DACA holders.
Unfortunately, Paxton's vicious, menacing and mean-spirited goal is not unique to him. Nine other attorneys general, as well as the governor of Idaho, C.L. "Butch" Otter, who also signed the letter, share Paxton's feelings.
In addition, Paxton's own far-right Republican colleagues in Texas have increasingly proven that they have no sympathy for DACA recipients and unauthorized immigrants. At the federal level, President Donald Trump and Attorney General Sessions are not allies of the DACA program. Despite his words that he likes DACA holders and that they are safe, Trump's vacillating brings no sense of comfort or security.
Supporters of DACA recipients need to organize and rally the troops to pressure their representatives to ensure that Paxton's threatening letter does not realize its goal. DACA holders are not "otherwise unlawfully present aliens," they are our children, relatives, friends, students and workers.
It would be detrimental to all if the DACA program is terminated and these young adults are thrust back to the shadows, increasingly deportable. Certainly this would tarnish the nation's sense of human compassion.
Rogelio Sáenz is dean of the College of Public Policy at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He is co-author of the book Latinos in the United States: Diversity and Change. Email: Rogelio.Saenz@utsa.edu