In an act of defiance against a federal judge’s temporary injunction and a lawsuit threatening to dismantle President Obama’s executive actions on immigration, Congressmen Tony Cárdenas (D-CA) and Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL) will host a forum and workshop in California this weekend to discuss the actions, and to notify families if they are eligible for the pending policy changes and programs introduced by the President in November. Ideally, the workshops will help undocumented immigrants understand the requirements for the expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) programs.
“Thanks to President Obama, millions of the people who work so hard as we rebuild this nation’s economy will have a chance to stay and continue to do exactly that,” Rep. Cárdenas said in a statement. “It is important that everyone who wants to stay here understands exactly what will be required of them. I am so pleased that my colleague, Luis Gutiérrez, will be helping me with this timely and important task.”
Despite the significant legal, legislative and public pushback the President’s executive actions have received in recent months, there has been a renewed vigor in the fight to implement the DACA and DAPA programs, standing to keep some 4.9 million undocumented immigrants temporarily safe from deportation. Both Reps. Gutiérrez and Cárdenas reinforced their optimism that the court will rule in President Obama’s favor and continue to encourage future applicants to prepare their documents for when the time comes.
The immigration debate is “the civil rights movement of our time,” Rep. Gutiérrez said on a recent stop on his national tour promoting the executive actions. “This is our Selma and we will walk, we will march, we will be arrested, we will do anything and everything it takes to make sure families are protected in this nation.”
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