Following a Supreme Court decision about the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, a group of influential evangelical leaders is urging President Trump to keep the program in place until Congress can pass a permanent solution. The Evangelical Immigration Table (EIT) wrote in a July 8 letter that so-called Dreamers deserve a pathway to citizenshipβsomething that can occur only through legislation.
In a 5-4 ruling last month, the Supreme Court said the Trump administration failed to follow correct procedural steps when it rescinded DACA in September 2017. The program, established by President Obama in 2012 via executive order, temporarily safeguards undocumented immigrants from deportation if they were brought to the United States before age 16.
Congress, however, hasnβt been able to pass a legislative solution for Dreamers, named for the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, first proposed in 2001 but never approved. An estimated 700,000 people have participated in DACA.
EIT Letter References Evangelical Support for Dreamers
On June 19, the day after the Courtβs decision, Trump tweeted that βnothing was lost or wonβ and that heβd be βsubmitting enhanced papers shortlyβ to meet procedural requirements for revoking DACA. Now the EIT, a coalition of organizations and leaders aiming for βimmigration reform with biblical values,β is asking Trump to pause his administrationβs effort to file new paperwork. As they did in August 2017, EIT members want the president βto leave DACA in place until such time as Congress has passed legislation to permanently protect Dreamers.β
The coalition still believes a βpermanent, legislative solutionβ is needed and that a pathway to citizenship should be available for Dreamers who meet βappropriate qualifications.β The letter notes that Trump has βan important role to playβnot only in signing legislation that reaches your desk, but in signaling your support and urging Congress to act.β
βPermanence for Dreamers has robust support among all Americans,β states the letter, which also references a poll showing that 76 percent of white evangelical Christians are in favor of Dreamers remaining in the United States legally.
The letter points out that young immigrants βare contributing to our communities in so many ways, including in the response to and recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.β It concludes with this message to the president: βConsistent with your past comments affirming your concern and βgreat loveβ for this population, we plead with you to work toward good faith compromise that would both be compassionate to immigrants and respect the rule of law. As always, we are committed to praying for you and your administration, as well as for the immigrant individuals and families whose lives and livelihoods are directly affected by your deliberations.βΒ
Russell Moore: βLives are at stakeβΒ
EIT member Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Conventionβs Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, says βentire lives are at stakeβ in this debate. βDreamers are not an abstraction,β he says, but βpeople created in the image of God.β
βThere is no sending these people βbackβ [because] in many cases they have no memory at all of the land of their parentsβ origin,β Moore adds. βThose who have lived as good neighbors, contributed so greatly to our country, should be protected from the constant threat of having their lives upended.β
Letter signee Scott Arbeiter, president of World Relief, says itβs βboth immoral and incomprehensibleβ for the Trump administration to try to end DACA again. βThe harm extends further to these young peopleβs families, including hundreds of thousands of young children of DACA-recipient parents, and to their employers and churches,β he says.