MEDIA STATEMENT
June 18, 2020
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Sharon Kayne, Communications Director, NM Voices for Children, 505-361-1288 (direct)
OR: Marie-Pier Frigon, Communications Associate, 505-361-1288 (direct)
ALBUQUERQUE—James Jimenez, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, issued the following statement regarding the Supreme Court’s ruling on whether President Trump has the legal authority to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program:
“We are pleased with today’s ruling on the DACA case. There are limitations on any one person’s right to make unilateral decisions that impact millions of American families, even for the person holding the highest office in the nation.
“Born of the failure of Congress to enact true immigration reform, DACA has never been a perfect program, but it is a step in the right direction for the hundreds of thousands of young people born in another country. For many of these youth, America is the only home they have ever known. To deport them to what is, for some of them, a foreign country does not align to American values of fairness, inclusion, and the dream of a better life through hard work.
“Unfortunately, DACA is not a path to citizenship, and making it one must be our goal moving forward. DACA recipients are students, employees, and employers. They are parents, siblings, and children. They pay taxes and make unique contributions to their communities and our state and it’s time we granted them the path to citizenship that they’ve earned.”
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New Mexico Voices for Children is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization advocating for policies to improve the health and well-being of New Mexico’s children, families and communities.
625 Silver Ave. SW, Suite 195, Albuquerque, NM 87102; 505-244-9505 (p); www.nmvoices.org