PHOENIX

'Dreamers' mark three-year anniversary of DACA

Dreamers celebrate the three year anniversary of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and push for the end to a temporary injunction preventing two more similar programs from taking effect.

Alexander S. Corey
The Republic | azcentral.com
  • Dreamers rally at state capitol to commemorate 2012 executive order
  • Supporters urge comprehensive immigration reform
  • Rally highlights obstacles that remain

Raquel Teran, in center, State Director at Mi Familia Vota, address issue about DACA Recipients, to the media outside Arizona State Capitol on June 15, 2015. Today they celebrate the 3rd year Anniversary of DACA and push for DAPA.

More than 80 Arizona "dreamers" and supporters rallied at the Capitol Monday to commemorate the third anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and to push for an end to a temporary injunction preventing new programs that could affect up to 5 million undocumented immigrants.

The executive order President Barack Obama signed in 2012 gave undocumented immigrants who met certain criteria temporary relief from deportation for up to two years with a chance for renewal.

Obama issued two more executive orders last fall to create a similar program for undocumented parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents and to expand DACA.

The new programs would have begun in May, but the implementation of both have come to a halt after a federal judge issued a temporary injunction in February in response to a lawsuit brought by Texas and 25 other states, including Arizona.

PREVIOUSLY:Dreamers to pay in-state rates at Arizona universities

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At the rally Monday, state Rep. Martin Quezada, D-Phoenix, called on supporters to urge members of Congress to push for comprehensive immigration reform and for Governor Doug Ducey to withdraw the pending lawsuit.

"This temporary relief is being denied to families because of political games," Quezada said.

Opponents of the programs say the executive orders are overreaching and that shielding undocumented immigrants rewards bad behavior. Ducey criticized the move at the time as a unilateral and divisive decision.

Muzaffar Chishti, director of the Migration Policy Institute's office at New York University School of Law, says the litigation is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon.

"The opponents of executive action are not exactly aiming to win the legal argument," Chishti said, "They're just playing for time."

Chisti said that the case will likely head to the U.S. Supreme Court this fall, but that it may not be resolved until next summer.

"Time does not favor the president from what we can see now," Chishti added.

DACA Recipients Karen Camacho, 15, left, and Magven Camacho,19, take a selfie with Rep. Martin Quezada outside the Arizona State Capitol on June 15, 2015.  They celebrated the third Anniversary of DACA.

While some advocates fear that the programs could be rescinded if a Republican president takes office in 2016, Chishti said there is little precedent for presidents rescinding executive actions of predecessors.

Although a 2014 report by the Migration Policy Institute found that Arizona had the highest application rate among those eligible at 66 percent, Karina Ruiz, 30, president of the Arizona Dream Act Coalition said that obstacles to signing up the rest of those eligible remain.

Many have not signed up because of financial constraints and because they are fearful of giving the government personal information, Ruiz said.

In spite of Republican opposition to the programs and speculation among some advocates that a Republican president could bring them to an end, Ruiz remains confident in the programs.

"DACA can change your life," Ruiz said, who has a work permit and driver's license after being approved. "It changed mine."