CSSJ U.S. Federation Statement on DACA Changes

—From the U.S. Federation JPIC Immigration Working Group—

We, the Federation of Sisters of St. Joseph, compelled by the Gospel and by our heritage to be responsive to the “dear neighbor” without distinction, are disheartened to learn of these sweeping changes to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program which the Department of Homeland Security recently announced. We call upon the current Administration to ensure the protection and care of DACA Recipients who, through no fault of their own, find themselves in an indeterminate state of anguish and uncertainty. These actions by the current Administration

• to significantly limit the DACA program,
• to categorically reject all initial requests for DACA, and
• to limit the period of renewed deferred action granted pursuant to the DACA policy after the issuance of this memorandum to one year with increased fees 
  is in flagrant opposition to the July 17^th U.S. Supreme Court ruling’s directives to restore the DACA program to its pre-rescission status including the resumption of accepting new applications.

We cannot remain silent. We stand with DACA Recipients. We will continue to use our collective voice to advocate with our U.S. Senators asking them to protect and provide a roadmap to citizenship for DACA Recipients and for comprehensive immigration reform now. We join with others in calling our representatives in Congress, both in the House and the Senate, to work in a bipartisan manner to towards a legislative solution to protect all DREAMers. We know our voices and votes count now more than ever.

Asylum & Refugee Protection Recommended Action 

Please call and/or email each of your U.S. Senators.  Click the link below to find your senators: 
https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?OrderBy=state&Sort=ASC
to find your Senators and ask them to:
-Protect the world’s most vulnerable individuals, asylees and refugees, fleeing for safety 
-Protect the U.S. Asylum Process and Refugee Resettlement Program
-Support, co-sponsor and pass pro-asylum legislation, including the Refugee Protection Act (RPA)